Page 256 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

ment which increased until a very high degree of

excellence was attained. The heavy and often un-

even texture of the biscuit in large pieces of Wan-li

ware and the rudely finished, rimless base disappeared.
Thenceforth close-grained, homogeneous pate and
careful technique in every detail became essential.

Similar progress was made in the domain of decora-

tive art. Instead of confining himself to archaic

dragons and phoenixes, grotesque figures of mythical
beings, patterns borrowed from textile fabrics, and so
forth, the decorator went to the realm of pictorial

art for inspiration, and copied flowers, trees, land-

scapes, figures from contemporary life, domestic scenes,

elaborate arabesques, rich floral scrolls, intricate dia-

pers, and in short everything that could serve such a

purpose. To this new departure are due the so-
called " Mandarin Porcelains," which M. Jacquemart

assigned to Japan, because the decoration on other

Chinese articles of vertu did not, so far as his knowl-

edge went, offer examples of the official costumes

prescribed by the Tartars. Even if this absence of

parallel really existed, as stated by M. Jacquemart, it

would not go far to support the theory or warrant

the fancy that Japanese keramists could have chosen

as a favourite decorative subject the persons and cos-

tumes of a foreign people, objects comparatively un-
" Mandarin
familiar and quite unpicturesque. The with Japan.

" had nothing whatever to do
Porcelains

Liberally as the potters of the latter country bor-

rowed decorative designs from the Middle Kingdom,

they seldom copied the official figures of the Tsing

dynasty. All that need be noted with regard to the

use of figure subjects on Chinese porcelain is that

when the long flowing robe, the girdle with jade

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