Page 83 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

VANDYKE PATTERN. 299

an old look, but the mark a leaf in two blue rings places
it after 1677, and the quality in all respects appears to justify
the date the mark would seem to indicate.
As a later of first half of blue and white,
specimen Kang-he
we may take No. 518. This dish (diameter, 15 inches ; height,
2f inches; mark, lotus in two blue rings) is decorated in
what is known either as the Persian or Vandyke style. With
regard to this, Mr. C. F. Bell writes as follows :
"
I now come to the of the I
question Vandyke pattern.
speak with the utmost deference to , but I should much
like to know upon what grounds he attributes the origin of
this to the Persians, though it was, of course, used
style freely
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by them and
by all who derived artistic motives from Mohammedan sources.
"
The steps of development, whencesover they come, are
clearly :
"
1. Triangular or lancet-shaped tongues attached to the
metal binding of wooden vessels (constructed upon tub prin-
to secure the nails with which it is fastened on.
ciples)
"
2. The decoration of these tongues with the veining of a
leaf, for which the resemblance of the outlines seems to call.
Sometimes, in China, as frequently in the west, a rude face
suggested itself as appropriate decoration.
"3. The modification of the outline of the tongues to a
form to that of the
analogous joo-e head, which is itself
derived from, or influenced
apparently by (through what course
a profound knowledge of Chinese ritual and folk-lore could
alone, I suppose, determine), the bat form full.
"
4. At this stage the scheme of ornament becomes frankly
unconstructional its origin being forgotten and what was
the border is conveyed bodily into the middle of the piece, as
in your No. 230.
"
The origin and meaning of the joo-e head is the point
which wants investigating, together with the source of the
admiration whether or not in
extraordinary religious its
shown so Oriental nations for that
origin by many particular
class of contrasted ogival curves or something which they once
represented.
"
I do not think that it would nowadays be considered
wise to pit any historical speculation whatsoever against