Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/178

 motives borrowed chiefly from ancient bronzes. Too frequently the painting itself is weak and mechanical. That it was more likely to assume this character than to display originality and vigour, may be gathered from the records. "Each variety of round vase decorated with blue sous couverte," says the Tao-lu, is manufactured by hundreds. If the pictures are not identical, great irregularity results. For this reason, the expert who sketches the design does not study the art of laying on the colours; and per contra, the man who applies the colours does not learn how to sketch. Thus each employs his hand always on the same object without dividing his attention. Those who sketch and those who colour are separated in the same studio so that their work may be uniform." And what this uniformity of work actually meant in practice will be understood from the account of M. d'Entrecolles:—"The business of painting is divided, in one studio, between a large number of workmen. One's sole duty is to form the first coloured ring seen near the rim of the piece; another traces flowers for yet another to paint. One confines himself to sketching landscapes, another does not go beyond birds and animals." What was gained in celerity by this division of labour was often lost in originality. Yet these Kang-hsi porcelains are always redeemed by their fine colour, whether the artistic features of their decoration be good or bad. In many of the better specimens bands of scroll pattern or diapers, incised in the pâte, surround the bases and rims, adding appreciably to the decorative effect. In others the blue decoration is confined to medallions, the whole of the rest of the surface being occupied by arabesques in low relief.