Page 285 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

in low relief, their raised portions covered with gold,

strongly burned in. Sometimes the design was picked

out with silver instead of gold. These porcelains are

not at first sight very striking. The Western collector

will probably prefer many other varieties of decora-

tion. But as a tour de force the gold-flecked wares of

Yung-ching and Chlen-lung are most admirable. Choice

specimens have an almost extravagant value for Chi-

nese connoisseurs. In another variety of the same

genre the patina of ordinary bronze is imitated with

wonderful fidelity, the designs in relief being either

gilt or glazed like the rest of the piece and having

their interstices only in darker colour.

Enamel decoration was sometimes applied to a

glaze mottled so as to resemble tiger's skin, and

therefore called Hu-pi. This is a very uncommon

style. It appears to have been employed in the man-

ufacture of small pieces only, such as snufF-bottles and

Onsacrificial cups. these two classes of objects, col-

lections of each of which have been made by Western

amateurs, the Chinese keramist lavished most elaborate

decoration. The gentleman of the Middle Kingdom
regarded his snufF-bottle with much the same pride

and affection as the European beau used to bestow on

his snuff-box. The jade carver, the glass-cutter, and

the potter devoted all their skill to the adornment of

these little vessels. They were from two to three

inches high, with cylindrical or flattened circular

bodies, and from the stopper there projected into the

interior a tiny spoon that served to carry the snuff to

the nose. Monochromatic and polychromatic glazes,

enamel decoration applied to a surface plain white,

coloured in the various styles described above, carved

in relief, reticulated, granulated, chagrined it would

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