Page 35 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

HISTORICAL

when held to the light. This process has been imitated in Persia as well

as in Europe.

The Ch'eng-hua period (l 465-1 487) of the Mings, one of the most

important in ceramic annals, was noted for its blue as well as other deco-

ration, although it is stated that the supply of fine blue, previously used,

became exhausted, and that this color on porcelain became inferior in

quality; while the polychrome painting was brought to a high degree of

Anexcellence. weaccount of the so-called five-color decoration, as

know it to-day, is also given ; the colors referred to, other than blue, are

green, yellow, red, and the manganese, applied on the glazed body, with

the blue always under the glaze.

During the reign of this Emperor all porcelain painted in these colors
was most highly valued; the designs for its decoration were drawn by cele-
brated artists, and some are said even to have been drawn in the palace.
The forms were elegant and original, and the different colors carefully ap-

plied; hom the specimens, as we see them now, we may gather that great
progress was made in designs from nature; that flowers and plants were

the objects of special studies, and that motives were supplied by the best
painters, if they did not paint upon the porcelain itself.

In this period is mentioned a distinguished artist named Kao-than-jin,
who made jars decorated with "peonies" and "chickens." Another
potter, named Ko-tchou, is famed for his wine-cups,^ It is said that their

numerous products served as models for future periods.

During the reign of Hun-chih (l 488-1 505) a native named Hsiang

Yuan-pien (called also Hsiang Tzii-ching) stated in his notes, written in

the sixteenth century, that a light yellow was most highly valued, but

glazing or enameling in other colors was also practised. The shades of

yellow varied from light to a brown as on a boiled or newly husked

Anchestnut. orange shade, and the color of a hibiscus flower, are also

mentioned in the same chronicles.

' Hsiang Tzij-ching thus describes a pair of cockscombs, narcissus, and other flowers, the fly-
ing dragon-fly and crawling mantis, painted after
these cups " They are of rounded form, swelling life, in green, yellow, and crimson enamel."
:

below, so thin and delicate that one weighs less

than a third of an ounce, and decorated with the