Page 317 - J. P Morgan Collection of Chinese Art and Porcelain

OF CHINESE PORCELAINS [CASE XXXV

they are yet occasionally to be seen, it is declared, by
favored votaries, in some of the inmost recesses of the

mountains.

The unique importance of this piece is due to the
fact that the inscription in verse which is attached to

the above picture is dated. It closes thus: "On a
fortunate day in the Shang-hiian decade of a summer

month in the cyclical year hsin mao." This would cor-
respond to the year A. D. 171 1 of our calendar. The
locality and seal of the artist follow. The bottle is

marked, moreover, underneath with a large double

ring penciled in blue. Height 18 inches.
K'ang-hsi (1662-1722).

866. CYLINDRICAL VASE, club-shaped. Bril-

liant white porcelain entirely covered with the po-tich
(hundred butterflies) motive.

K'ang-hsi (1662-1722). Height 17 inches.

(plate lxiv)

867. BEAKER VASE with oviform body and wide-

spreading mouth. Elaborately decorated in brilliant

colors and gold with pheasants on rocks among peonies,
chrysanthemums, bamboos, and pines. On the shoul-

der is a border of inverted ju-i heads; above it a broad

border of frog-spawn on which red peony flowers are

arranged, with four white reserves enclosing red flowers.

Note the usual association of the pheasant with the

chrysanthemum and the phoenix with the peony. The

leaf-shaped reserves of this floral diapered band encir-

cling the shoulder of this beaker contain naturalistic

sprays of orchid and peach blossom. This last, by the

way, may be distinguished from the prunus, with which

it is sometimes confounded, by its indented petals and

by the presence of leaves with the flowers.

K'ang-hsi (1662-1722). Height 15X inches.

157