Page 24 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

INTRODUCTION.
274
of excellence which, in my opinion, has never been reached
either before or since."
The third of these great periods, the Keen-lung, like the
first, lasted for sixty years (1736-1795), and the falling off in
the quality as time went on may probably be attributed to
the increased demand for Europe, trade necessities calling for
and of The orders
cheapness quantity regardless quality.
poured in, and had to be executed as best they could, with
the result that much of what was shipped to the west for
use is now valueless. Canton was then the chief centre
everyday
of trade with foreign countries, and, not possessed of a manu-
of its own, white was sent from of
factory porcelain many parts
China, there to be decorated, under the eye, as it were, of the
European merchant, who, like the Chinese through whom he
had to deal, no doubt looked mainly to profit, and a cheap
article was needed to compete with European productions.
Canton, however, has long been celebrated for its wealth, and
many of the Chinese arts, such as silk-weaving, embroidery,
painting, carving in wood, jade, etc., have from early times
found a home there, while the clever workmen who have
resided within its walls, generation after generation, have made
its products famous all the world over. At no period, perhaps,
was this more the case than the of
during reign Keen-lung,
and some of the china decorated at Canton during this and
the following reigns often exhibits great skill and consider-
"
able artistic merit. That known as Canton blue and white,"
the of the must have
of course, being product grand feu,
been decorated at the and took
porcelain manufactory, merely
its name from the at which it was
port shipped.
The reader may wonder why we hear so much of King-te-
chin and so little of the other manufactories, but this is due
to its been far and the seat of the
having by away principal
industry and the source of the best quality, also to the two
facts that the was situated there, and
Imperial manufactory
that Pere d'Entrecolles resided at so that we
King-te-chin,
have in the Government records of the and in
manufactory
the celebrated letters of the father a fund of information
worthy
that does not exist in the case of the other where
places
was made. towards the end of the
porcelain Writing reign
of Pere d'Entrecolles "The fine China-ware,
Kang-he, says,