Page 205 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

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MARK'^ AND SEALS. 45

dynasties, but since the accession of the Ming dynasty in 1368, there
has been only one instance of such a change, when the emperor
Cheng T'ung returned after seven years of exile and changed the
nien-hao to T'ien Shun.
Chinese, it is well known, is read from right to left, and from
above downwards. The " six-character mark " is usually written
in two columns, composed as follows :—Two characters signifying
the dynasty, two the nien-hao, and two more ,
meaning " period " and " made." This is a six- ^f^ -jr
character mark of the Emperor Hsiian Te. It
reads Ta Ming Hsiian Tt' nien chih, " Great Ming .S^ 0F|
Hsiian Te period made." But it is occasionally
written in one horizontal line. The " four-character mV *i^
~
mark " has the dynasty omitted, so that it
commences with the nien-hao. The seals are similar com-
binations of characters, but pencilled in an archaic script,
commonly known as the seal character. The third form
of Chinese writing, the " grass text," or cursive hand, is
seldom seen except in potters' marks impressed on Fuchien
white porcelain.
The regnal titles usually found are :

I. Ming Dynasty.

-^ 7%

Hung Wu Yung Lo (1403-142-1).
(1368-T398)
x2
8941.