Page 246 - J. P Morgan Collection of Chinese Art and Porcelain

CASE XIX] THE MORGAN COLLECTION

503. ROSE-BACKED PLATE, egg-shell porcelain.

In the central circle on the right is a house decorated in

dark green and brilliant cobalt blue, with deep green
tiles and foundation of orange masonry edged with pale
blue marble, with a row of purple lotus petals above.

A wooden walk, outlined in red-brown, connects the

house with a purple and green pavilion, partly seen on
the left, in which two men, one in cobalt, the other in

sulphur-yellow, are seated looking at one in a rose-col-

ored robe who gallops toward them below on a spotted
white horse. To the left in the foreground another is

seen, in cobalt blue, on a black horse.

Ch'ien-lung (i 736-1795). Diameter 8^ inches.

504 to 506. THREE ROSE-BACKED SAUCERS,

egg-shell porcelain. In the white central circles are

two rose peonies with blue-green leaves, below them a

white flower with yellow centre; a yellow, rose-spotted

citron is partly visible behind, to the left a part of an-

other, and white and blue asters. Encircling this de-

sign is a border of black flowered lozenge on pea-green

defined inside in gold, outside in black, outside which

a border of black Y-pattern on pale greenish-blue.

Ch'ien-lung (1736-1795). Diameter 7>^ inches.

CASE XX

507, 508. TWO TALL BEAKERS with serrated ver-

tical flanges and chimaera handles. Boldly and charac-
teristically decorated in the polychrome enamels of the

reign of Wan-li, known as ^'an-li wu ts'ai. They are

productions of the imperial pottery of the time, being
decorated with five-clawed dragons and phoenixes for

the use of the palace. The five colors (wu ts'ai) of the
period are blue, green, red, yellow, and black. The blue

is always under the glaze, the other colors are enamels,

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