Page 177 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

SOFT PASTE. 34i

painted by the same person, presumably at the same place,
and within no distance of time, since, successful
great copyists
as the Chinese are, one's touch in using colours, and
changes
in
repeating any design."
No. 848 has a somewhat latish look, which is to be expected ;
but Mr. Winthrop is not likely to be mistaken, and it will at
least afford us all some little amusement to be on the out-
look to meet with a specimen of Kang-he famille verte on soft
paste.
The writer has found a The above had been
just piece !
written some three months, when, after searching for more
than a one the letter was received
year, morning following
from Mr. T. J. Larkin : " You have spoken to me once or
twice about soft famille verte, Kang-he, and I have said
paste
I had never seen a In a received from
piece. parcel just
China there is a ginger jar, soft paste, crackle, famille verte,
Kang-he the first and only piece I have ever seen." Re-
pairing to Bond Street, expecting to see a late famille verte
piece, one was not a little surprised to be introduced to the
jar shown in Nos. 582, 583, 584. Height, 8 inches. Mark,
two blue rings, decorated in a style that we would not place
later than about the middle of this reign. The jar is not made
throughout of soft paste, but, like so many others, is composed
of some coarser material coated with soft paste. It has all the
appearance of being an early effort in soft paste, the porcelain
being stained in places in a way that does not seem intentional,
and the crackle very irregular ; but if we are right in dating
it from the middle of this then soft was known
reign, paste
sooner than Pere d'Entrecolles would lead us to believe, and if
so, why there is so little of this Kang-he soft paste to be
found ? This is one of those puzzles in Chinese porcelain that
it is very difficult to solve. Of course, this really may be a
late Kang-he piece decorated in an earlier style; but if so,
the reproduction is better carried out than is usually the case.
Americans have paid more attention to soft paste than we
have, and naturally, as it turns up in China, it is shipped to
the best market ; but it seems odd that in the past so little
seems to have found its way to Europe.