Page 217 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly
P. 217
PORCELAIN DECORATED
It will, of course, be understood that the objects
mentioned above are not restricted to the decoration
of blue-and-white porcelain. They occur with equal
frequency on specimens of famille verte and famille
rose. Indeed no device is commoner on fine porce-
lains of the last named variety than a branch of peach
tree with fruit, the leaves executed in translucid green
enamel, and the fruit in the broken tints and half
tones peculiar to the famille rose. Strawberries are
almost as often found on fine specimens of this family,
but they are chosen solely on account of their suita-
bility to the palette of t\\t famille rose painter, and not
because of any emblematic significance attaching to
them.
As to blue-and-white of the pate tendre class, the
subjects affected above all others by decorators the
ubiquitous dragon excepted is the pomegranate
Whytree. this should be the case, no explanation
is forthcoming, other than the obvious fact that the
branches and fruit lend themselves readily to graceful
composition and distribution over the surface. Land-
scapes too are very frequently depicted, their details
finished with the utmost care, and some of them
showing a fine artistic sense. Garden scenes are also
found, not uncommonly having a more or less close
affinity with the familiar old willow pattern. Fig-
ure subjects, however, are comparatively rare on soft-
paste porcelains, with the exception of snuff-bottles.
On the whole, the decorators of this choice ware
seem to have been guided chiefly by canons of chas-
tity and refinement, and to have avoided the incon-
gruity of attempting to produce dazzling effects on
a surface that lent itself best to delicate and soft
subjects.
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