Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/147

 check. The mark of the era—Ta-Ming Hung-chih nien chi—is rarely found on porcelains of the class now under consideration.

The following period—Chêng-tê (1506-1522)—is more important. The Governor of Yunnan succeeded in procuring a fresh supply of the celebrated Mohammedan blue, and with it many beautiful porcelains were decorated. They are said to have been comparable with pieces of the Hsuan-tê and Chêng-hwa eras. Few of them, however, appear to have survived, and they certainly possessed no features to distinguish them above their immediate predecessors. It is mentioned in the Tao-lu that during this era the workmen of the imperial factory dishonestly sold pieces of the precious Mohammedan blue to private potters, and that rules of great strictness were adopted by the superintendent of the kilns to put an end to the practice. Judging by the value set upon the imported mineral and by the details recorded with reference to the failure or renewal of the supply, one is inclined to suppose that its colour must have been exceptionally beautiful. But there is a strong probability that the reputation it enjoyed was partly due to the inexperience of Chinese keramists. Certainly in later times, when, being thrown on their own resources, necessity stimulated their inventive faculties, they succeeded in so preparing and employing their native cobalt as to obtain a colour scarcely, if at all, inferior to the finest Hsuan-tê and Chêng-hwa blue. The mark of this period is Ta-Ming Chêng-tê nien chi. It is seldom found upon blue-and-white porcelain.

Perhaps it will be wise to remind the reader that, though no repeated reference to the distinction