Page 272 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

78 CHINESE ART.
the north wall of the Tartar city, in accordance with the usual
custom, was consecrated as a temple, and became the great Lama
monastery Yung Ho Kung. The lamassery was provided with a
number of sets of ritual vessels and altar paraphernalia of conven-
tional design decorated in the best style of the period in cloisonne
enamels with symbolical designs of appropriate character. A magnifi-
cent set of five, incense urn, pricket candlesticks and pair of flower
vases, over six feet high, used to stand on carved marble pedestals
in the principal courtyard of the temple ; but the Russians, who
made the monastery their headquarters in 1900, are said to have
carried off most of the cloisonne vessels, and this imposing row is
now perhaps to be seen somewhere in St. Petersburg, if not at the
Hermitage itself.
Cloisonne enamels of theCh'ien Lnng period {1736-1795) manifest
a certain improvement in technical finish in every detail. The models
are well chosen and the scheme of decoration is generally worthy
of the form. There is no pitting of the surface, the colours, if not
so viv'id and lustrous as of old, are harmoniously combined, and the
bronze accessories often mounted on the pieces are heavily and richly
gilded. This last point is useful as a means of distinction of the
modern enamels of Peking workshops, which are not only made
more hurriedly and less carefully finished, but are sparingly gilded
with the help of an electric battery, instead of being lavishly coated
with concentrated amalgams of gold fi.xed in the fire.
There is a fine and comprehensive collection of Chinese enamels
in the museum, some of the most important pieces of which came
from the summer palace at Yuan Ming Yuan after it had been
sacked in i860. The illustrations may be conveniently grouped
under two headings, the cloisonnds and champleves being placed
first, the painted enamels afterwards.
Cloisonnj? and, Champlevk Enamels.
The large globular incense- burner illustrated in Fig. 86 is marked
underneath with an incised seal Chivg T'ni nien chili "Made in the