Page 258 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

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A CATALOGUE OF

No. 75

Tall Square Vase, with light-green ground, of the so-called hawthorn

class, its rectangular form tapering downward from the shoulders, with

a slightly flaring cylindrical neck.

The paste is hard and of fine dense texture, agreeably sustaining a soft light-green

glazing that is of rare mottled quality, harmoniously blending with the emblematic

flowering plants, rendered in low tones, with masterly freedom and much delicacy, in

the typical glazes of the early K'ang-hsi palette.^

Each of the four vertical sides indicates a season by its distinctive flower e.g., the
peony, for spring, is represented in aubergine and yellow, with the knotted and strongly
marked branches, in neutral manganese glaze, springing from near large pointed rocks,

mamid other herbage, all picked out various green, purple, and yellow glazes.

The lotus, for summer, is naturally displayed on the second panel, with large leaves,
its seed and long stems growing in shallow water and among ferns and grass; two

ducks in the foreground, together with insects above, lend life and aid the composition.

The chrysanthemum, for autumn, fills the third panel, and is shovvTi clustered among

large rocks that project from the side of an elevation, all carefully glazed in various
greens, yellow, purple, and aubergine, in strong outline against the pale-green ground-

color.

The blossoms of the wild prunus (hawthorn), for wanter, are represented on the

fourth side, rooted close to a large pointed rock, with the numerous branches knotted
and knurled to suggest an old tree, and glcized in neutral-toned aubergine with dark
hatchings; the foliage is picked out in varying shades of green, while the blossoms are
in white reserve, with yellow in the coronas, carefully drawn in various sizes from the
full-grown blossom to the smallest buds; two magpies hover above, one of which is
yellow and the other purple, while both have green wings ; a small disk represents the
sun on this and on the peony panel.

' The few examples of this class known to-day Ts'ing-ying-hsuan as superintendent, and it was
have been ascribed as made under the prefecture he who especially became famous for such objects,
of Lang, who retained his office until about 1 688 known in China as Ts'ing porcelain,
but in the year 1683 the Ejnperor appointed

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