Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/167

 specimens attributed to him there is scarcely one into whose decorative design the plum does not enter in some form or other. It is possible that the grace and appropriateness of such a motive may have specially appealed to Japanese taste; but inasmuch as Japan sat humbly at China's feet in the matter of keramics in the sixteenth century, and as many considerations must have swayed Shonzui to faithful imitation of his teachers' models, it seems a reasonable inference that his free use of the meihwa reflected the tendency of Chinese potters also in his time. This part of the subject has so much interest for American and European collectors that the portions of the Tao-lu bearing on the subject may be appended in full:—

The same writer, quoting from an encyclopedia, says:—