Page 154 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

32 CHINESE ART.
derni-grand feu because they were fired at a comparatively low
heat. The turquoise and aubergine purple porcelain of the K'angHsi
epoch and the Japanese Kishiu ware, may probably both be traced
back to archaic Ming porcelain of this class. Two of the most charac-
teristic forms of the early ware are illustrated here. In Fig. 12
a wide-mouthed massive jar with an outer pierced casing, decorated
in turquoise blue and manganese purple, with touches of yellow
;
on the body a landscape with mounted military figures carrying
a banner, a spear, and a crossbow, and others in civilian costume,
one carrying a lyre ; above is a band of peonies, below a border
of conventional fret. In Fig. 13 a baluster-shaped vase with a
narrow neck decorated in raised outline filled in with turquoise
and white on a mottled dark blue ground ; on the body, a landscape
with aborigines clad in cloaks of sewn leaves bringing presents ; on
the shoulder, festoons of jewels hung with pendeloqnes of emblems
and with bands of formal fret, above and below—the carved stand
is studded with felicitous symbols of white jade.
The ordinary class of polychrome (itm ts'ai) decoration of the
Ming period, where the porcelain, glazed white, is subsequently
painted in enamel colours, fi.xed by a second firing in the mufile
stove, is illustrated next in order. A large garden fish-bowl of
this class, pictured in Fig. 14, is decorated in the usual style with
enamel colours, red, green, yellow, and touches of black, in com-
bination with under-glaze cobalt blue, the decoration being a
typical imperial design of four five-clawed dragons rising into the
clouds from crested sea-waves ; the inscription of the imperial
manufactory Ta Ming Wan Li nien chih, " Made in the reign of
Wan Li (1573-1619) of the Great Ming (dynasty)," is pencilled in
blue under th? glaze inside the rim. Fig. 15 exhibits a tall " beaker "
of the same period as the last, painted with a historical scene, and
bands of flowers and fruit. Fig. 16 is a Chinese bottle, decorated in
enamels with sj'mbols of art and culture, which is mounted as a
ewer in gilded copper of early 17th century Florentine workmanship.