Page 197 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

PORCELAIN. 41

Yung CnftNG and Ch'ien Lung Period (1723 -1795).
The two reigns of Yung Cheng and of his celebrated son, Ch'ien
Lung, who succeeded his father in 1736, are taken together on
account of the general similarity of their ceramic productions.
Ching-te-chen and its imperial manufactory still monopolise our
attention, its official directors being Nien Hsi-yao, who was ap-
pointed to the post early in the reign of Yung Cheng, and T'ang
Ying, who was made assistant-director in 1728, became director in
1736, and retained sole charge up to 1749, when a successor was
appointed, of whom we know nothing but his name. T'ang Ying
was a prolific writer, as well as an enthusiastic cultivator of the
ceramic art, and much of our exact knowledge is due to his pen.
The two directors devoted their powers to the reproduction of
archaic wares, specimens of which were sent down from the palace
at Peking for the purpose, as well as to the invention of novel
methods of decoration, but there is no space here for a list of all
their ceramic triumphs. The Chinese classify them in order under
the distinctive headings of Nien Yao and T'ang Yao.
The brilliant greens which predominated among the enamels of
the painted decoration of the reign of K'ang Hsi earned for it the
name of famille verie ; the greens now become paler in tone, and
are gradually supplanted by rose-reds of crimson and pink shades
derived from gold, hence the name of famille rose, which is often
applied to the new scheme of decoration in colours. Two splendid
examples of the famille rose are illustrated in Fig. 56, a six-sided
lantern pierced with panels of open trelliswork, and Fig. 57, a jar
with cover, richly decorated with floral designs displayed on a
rouge d'or background of soft pink shade. Fig. 58, a graceful
slender vase with spreading foot, a characteristic shape of the Yung
Cheng epoch, is painted on a soft white ground with the Taoist divin-
ity Hsi Warg Mu, bestriding a lion-like monster, accompanied by
two female attendants on foot. Fig. 59, a barrel-shaped brush-pot,
or pi-i'ung, is decorated in colours of the grand feu with Wen Kung,