Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/170

 self should be boldly and clearly executed. On the best pieces there is generally found a plum tree painted in its entirety,—branches, and flowers. But an even more pleasing method is to show the branches and their blossoms hanging down over the rim of the vase, as though the stem were within it. The commonest type has clusters of petals scattered regularly over the surface. In every case lustre and smoothness of glaze are important criteria. Spots where the surface has become rough and the blue verges upon black owing to faulty firing or an excess of moisture in the pigment, are emphatic blemishes. Finally the pâte should be tolerably fine and the bottom of the piece well finished.

Decoration in the "Hawthorn" style appears to have been applied to two classes of specimens only, pots for sugar or preserved ginger, and vases with trumpet-shaped necks. It is strange that these limits should have been observed. No explanation is furnished, but every collector is familiar with the fact. The finest and most imposing examples are the sugar-jars. They vary in size, from tiny pieces to specimens fifteen or sixteen inches high. Their shape is graceful and the swelling contours of the body are continued appropriately in the lid. It is on these jars that the beautiful "spray" decoration is chiefly found, and many of them show colour of most admirable depth and brilliancy. But the comparatively coarse use to which they have been applied has resulted in frequent accidents. Very rarely indeed does the collector find a flawless specimen with intact lid. In at least ninety-nine cases out of every hundred the bric-à-brac dealer is obliged to replace the original porcelain lid with a cover of carved teak-