Page 105 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

LE COMTE. 307

as the official in can have died shortly before
question only
this vase was made, the decoration was probably designed by
some one at Peking who knew him, so we may have here an
instance of the drawing of a courtier sent to King-te-chin to
be copied.

PERE LE COMTE.
In connected with China the Jesuit Fathers are
anything
and Mr. Lovell W.
always interesting, Byrne having picked
up at a second-hand bookstall a copy of Le Comte's work,
sent the translation of the remarks
kindly following regarding
porcelain, which are of value as giving Le Comte's own
observations together with the information he had been able
to on this Le Comte seems to have arrived
pick up subject.
in China towards the end of 1687, and the book quoted from
was published in Amsterdam in 1697, so that he must have
written between those or as near as can be about the
years,
middle of the of
reign Kang-he.
"Concerning porcelain, it is an article of furniture so
common that it is an ornament of house. Tables, side-
every
boards, cabinets, even kitchens are full of it, for they eat and
drink out of it, their ordinary plates and dishes are made of
it. They also make huge flowerpots of it. Architects cover
roofs of it, and often use it instead of marble as a casing for
buildings.
"
Among the pieces which are most esteemed, three different
colours are observed. Some are yellow ; but, although in
these the paste may be very fine, it nevertheless appears
coarser than the others, because this colour does not take so
fine a It is used in the
glaze. Emperor's palace. Yellow is
his particular colour, which no one else may use. Thus, one
may say that, in the matter of porcelain, the monarch is the
least favoured of all users.
"
The second kind is of a grey colour, often hatched with
an of small
infinity irregular lines, which cross as if the vessel
were cracked all over, or made up of small pieces like mosaic.
I do not know how make these marks, for I can
they hardly
believe that can draw them with a the
they pencil. Perhaps
explanation is that when the porcelain is baked and still hot
exposed to cold air, or that it is dipped in cold water,
it is