Page 457 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINESE PORCELAIN IN WEST

elled description manufactured so profusely in the

Wan-li era. After 1670, the outcome of the great
Kang-hsi workshops began to come into the market,

and enamelled ware of fine quality would then have

been included in the exports. The history of the

keramic industry in China is alone sufficient to estab-

lish these facts, but strong corroborative testimony is

furnished by Western writers. Thus Gersaint, cata-

loguing the collection of the Viscount de Fonspertuis,
" The most usual kind of porcelain
in 1 747, says :

has a white ground with blue flowers, landscapes, and

figures or animals. Of late years, however, there

has appeared a new kind, which is called * enamelled

porcelain.' Its colours are bright, but they lack

harmony." The same writer gives the following

interesting account of the porcelains which, at that

time, constituted the staple of European collections:

" Porcelain is made of all colours in China. Yellow

destined for Imperial use grey that approaches the
;

tint of celadon. The latter is seldom seen. It is

generally covered with a number of irregular little

lines crossing each other as though the vase had been
broken all over. Large lines are also met with, the
effect of which is more marked. Porcelains of this

kind are called * truit'ees ' or *' according to

craquelees

the smallness or largeness of the lines. Blue, red,

and green porcelains are also to be procured, but it

is difficult to obtain a uniform surface with these

colours. They rarely succeed and perfect speci-
;

mens are consequently very costly. I have seen

black porcelain also it is very rare, and, for the
;

rest, is only valuable on account of its scarcity, being

too sombre to be decorative. There is also white

porcelain painted with blue under the glaze, which

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