Page 311 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

PAINTED IN COLOURS OVER THE GLAZE. 183

at back. It will be noticed that the blue enamel has
chipped
off in places.
would consider this a but some
Many people Ming piece,
of the colours employed would seem to date it from the Rang-
he period (1661-1722), of which it may be an early specimen.
No. 313. Plate. Edge waved, slight spiral fluting on back
of rim and rise. Diameter, 14| inches ; height, 2 J inches.
Mark, leaf in two blue rings. Decoration is marked off by two
Indian ink lines with between. Rim and sides are
yellow
divided six between
by diaper ornaments, the spaces being-
filled, two by flowers, two by symbols, two by a fox in one
and a monster in the other. Motive, three warriors on horse-
back apparently pursuing each other, with their standard-
bearers running by their sides, a swordsman running in the
background. The first horse is mottled red, the second
neutral tint, the third yellow. The horsemen seem dressed
in red with armour in neutral tint ; the horses have
chiefly
red bridles. The four figures on foot are in green and red.
The rocks are in green enamel, relieved with blue and neutral
tint.
The colour of the bridles in this case is chance
probably ;
"
but Davis vol. There are two lines of the
says, i. p. 257,
house of China — the first descended from the
imperial great
conqueror himself, and the second from his collaterals, or his
brothers and uncles. The first are called
Tsoong-she (ancestral
and a and a bridle of
house), distinguished by yellow girdle
the same colour. The second are styled Keolo, and marked
by a red sash and bridle. Everything about their dress and
equipage is subject to minute regulation."
In some of these the horsemen, instead of or
plates spear
"
halberd, are armed with a captive ball," which they throw at
their The feats of the Chinese warriors are all more
opponent.
or less of the nature of ; and at p. 543, Doolittle tells
jugglery
us, "At other times the street may be rendered impassable
for the time being by any but daring foot-passengers by the
of a man who has taken of it, and is
exploits possession playing
with a ball of iron or lead, weighing several pounds, attached
to the end of a strong but small rope, some twenty or thirty
feet long. He is engaged in forcing the ball forward and
it back the cord attached, which he holds in one
drawing by