Page 262 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

76 CHINESE ART.

The theory that Chinese enamels were first made during the Yuan,
" "
or Mongolian, dynasty is confirmed by the marks inscribed on
the pieces. Among the earliest marks that have been noticed
is that of the last emperor of the line, engraved underneath in the
four character device reading : Chih CJicng nien chih, i.e., " Made
in the period Chih Cheng," which corresponds to a.d. 1341-1367.
The foot of a broken piece marked Chih Yuan nien chih was once
exhibited at a meeting of the Peking Oriental Society as a relic of
the founder of the Yuan dynasty, the famous Kublai Khan, who
reigned under this title from 1264 to 1294 : but it was decided that
it probably dated from the second Chih Yuan epoch (1335-1340),
which immediately preceded the Chih Cheng period, and belonged
to the same reign. The Chih Cheng mark is occasionally seen
flanked by a pair of dragons in the midst of an ornamental ground,
the whole executed in cloisonne work filled in with colours : a
similarly elaborate decoration of the foot of the piece survived in
some cases during the Ming dynasty, which succeeded the Yuan in
1368.
The most common " mark " of Ming cloisonne is that of the
Ching T'ai period (a.d. 1450-1456), either in four characters, as in
Fig. 84, or in the full six character fonu Ta Ming Ching T'ai nien
chih, i.e., "Made in the reign Ching T'ai of the Great Ming (dynasty)."
There must have been an important revival of the art during this
reign, judging from the fact that even in the present day Ching T'ai
Lan is commonly used in Peking as a general synonym for cloisonne
enamels. The reign of Ching T'ai was contemporary with the
last siege of Constantinople by the Osmanli Turks, who planted
the crescent on its walls in the year 1453, a carious coincidence, if
it did not actually lead to the arrival of a fresh body of alien crafts-
men flying for refuge to the far east. The enamel work of the
Ming dynasty, speaking generally, is characterised by a boldness of
design and breadth of treatment which have never been surpassed,
combined with a striking depth and purity of colouring. There are