Page 190 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

KANG-HE.
346
was able and to so
love for fine things, willing pay, got just
as good an article as could have been obtained by a prince of
higher rank entitled to the five claws. We often find the still
more humble many on many very fine pieces, and it is ever
as works of art, and not as emblems of rank, that ceramic
must be and 24 At back there are
productions judged prized.
three sprays, each with two red flowers and blue foliage.
Famille Verte with Bine Enamel.
Let us now see what this period could produce in the way
of famille verte dinner and dessert plates, and this we have an
of in Nos. 590, 591.
opportunity doing
No. 590. Diameter, lOf inches; height, lj inch. Mark,
diamond with cross, and a square in each corner. This is fitted
with fillets, so no doubt is intended for one of the sacred
Two blue As out in
symbols. rings. pointed p. 191, marks
seem to have been esteemed in bygone days as an evidence of
quality, and although that belief may have been justified in
many instances, such as this and No. 590, still there is no
doubt this faith in marks was sadly imposed upon in the
of cases. At the back of this there are four
majority plate
symbols in green with red fillets, viz. a pearl, a fan, a roll of
and the The decoration on the face
paper, lozenge (No. 31).
of the plate is carried right over the whole surface up to the
narrow diaper band at the edge. This border is in red with
green ovals, ornamented with blue and yellow flowers. The
consists of the usual
design grouping of vases, jars, symbols,
etc., which are coloured chiefly in blue and green with a little
red, the legs of the stands being in that colour. The lute and
the fungus spray are in aubergine, as also the ornamentation
on the of books and some of the vases. The most
packets
24
This view is in accordance with my experience, but nevertheless it
is only too true that, according to the Sumptuary Laws of China, no doubt
was left upon this point, and it was only the finest specimens of decorated
porcelain that were absorbed by the Imperial Palace or Household, and
we do find that the indication of Imperial rank by five-clawed dragons and
phoenixes (the mark of the Empress) is almost invariably connected with the
richest and most superb expression of Chinese Ceramic Art, and in no sense
can these specimens be confounded with the class of porcelain exported by
the Dutch, English, and other companies in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. T. J. L.