Page 150 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

82 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

form even more metal-like, having on the lower part the project-
ing dentate ribs seen on square bronze and cloisonne beakers of

the Ming dynasty. Two other marked examples of this colour

scheme, from which the absence of aubergine is noteworthy, are

(1) a ewer in the British Museum with full-face dragons on the neck
supporting the characters wan shou (endless longevity) and with

floral sprays on a lobed body, and (2) a straight-sided box with
moulded six-foil elevation, painted on each face with a screen
before which is a fantastic animal on a stand, and a monkey,
dog and cat in garden surroundings.

— —The second and perhaps the more familiar group of Wan Li

wu ts'ai is illustrated by Fig. 1 of Plate 82, on which all the
colours, including aubergine, are represented in company with the
underglaze blue. There is no longer the same patchy effect, because
the blue is more evenly balanced by broader washes of the enamel
colours, particularly the greens. The design of this particular ex-

ample is a figure subject taken from Chinese history (shih wu),
supplemented by a brocade band of floral scroll work on the
shoulder and formal patterns on the neck and above the base.
The former and the latter positions are commonly occupied in
these vases by a band of stiff leaves and a border of false gad-
roons, both alternately blue and coloured. The stiff leaves in this
instance are replaced by floral sprays, and the coloured designs
are outlined in a red brown pigment. The mark under the base
is the " hare," which has already been noticed on examples of late
Ming blue and white. ^ Another late Ming mark, yil fang chia
chH,^ occurs on a dish in the British Museum, with design of the
Eight Immortals paying court to the god of Longevity {pa hsien
p'e7ig shou), painted in the same style but with a predominance

of underglaze blue.

But it is not necessary to multiply instances, for the type is
well known, and must have survived for a long period. Indeed,
many competent authorities assign the bulk of this kind of porcelain
to the Yung Cheng period (1723-1735); and it is undoubtedly true

that imitations of Wan Li polychrome were made at this time,

for they are specifically mentioned in the Yung Cheng list of Imperial
wares. ^ But I am inclined to think that the number of these late
attributions has been exaggerated, and that they do not take suffi-

ciently into account the interval of forty-two years between the

1 See p. 67. 2 See vol. i., p. 218. ^ ggg p. 224.