Page 234 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

CHINESE PORCELAIN.
158
concealed for a time in the and from
lay gardener's cottage,
thence made their escape to the island home of the lover. The
father them with a and would have beaten them
pursued whip,
to death had not the gods changed them into turtle-doves.
It is called the willow because, at the time of the
pattern
elopement, the willow began to shed its leaves."
Blue and White Mandarin Borders and Diapers.
No. 254. Plate with shaped rim of coarse ware. Diameter,
10 inches ; height, f inch. No mark. Stand thinly glazed and
washed with brown. Excerjting the small six-pointed reserve
in the middle, decorated with a flower, a few leaves, and two
butterflies, and the three sceptre-head-shaped reserves filled
with scenery, the surface is entirely covered with the curl-
work so frequently met with in the polychrome pieces of this
which in this case is relieved white lotus flowers.
period, by
No. 255. Dish of coarse ware. Diameter, 9^ inches ;
height, If inch. No mark. Edge coloured brown ; stand
and washed with brown. The decoration here
thinly glazed
is marked off by the old blue circles surmounted by sceptre
heads ; but the border is entirely new, and is the distinctive
feature in its many varieties of what may be termed blue and
white mandarin. In this instance we seem to find
particular
traces of the double diamond symbol, if not of the joo-e head ;
but the most notable features are the curl-work above referred
—
to flowers, butterflies, and those indescribable adjuncts which
go to make up these lace-like borders. The centre is decorated
with the usual Chinese landscape.
Blue and White Indian China.
No. 250. A of fine inches
plate porcelain. Diameter, 8§ ;
inch. Mark, diamond with ribbon in two blue
height, 1J rings.
The is marked off one blue at the and
design by ring edge,
two at the bottom of the rise, connected by four bauds of
trellis diaper- work, the spaces between being tilled in with a
spray showing two flowers each. In the centre two rocks, from
which spring chrysanthemums and grasses; at back of rim
two sprays. This piece, although it no doubt originally formed
part of a dessert service, is superior in quality and decoration
to many pieces in the iirst section of this class, and shows how