Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/184

 superstitions of his nation. The celestial dragon, guardian and buttress of the dwellings of the deities; the spiritual dragon that makes the wind blow and the rain fall; the terrestrial dragon that shapes the courses of rivers and brooks; the treasure dragon that keeps watch over the precious things invisible to human eyes; the holy dragon that protects the Buddhist faith; the majestic dragon that appears on the imperial ensign and serves as a synonym for the occupant of the throne—all these are forms in which the fabulous snake presents himself to Chinese imagination, and on porcelains destined for official use his introduction into some part of the decorative design becomes almost a necessary tribute to his supernatural ubiquity. It must be noted, however, that though the iteration of the dragon is a defect in Chinese keramic decoration, some of the very choicest specimens of blue-and-white porcelain carry this design, especially vermilion boxes and pen-washers of soft-paste ware (kai-pien-yao) upon which the potter has evidently lavished all the resources of his technique. The dragon is also incised in the paste of egg-shell porcelains of unsurpassable quality, and is modelled in relief upon grand céladons and enamelled wares of the Kang-hsi, Yung-ching, and Chien-lung eras.

The phœnix (Fêng) stands next to the dragon in frequency of use as a decorative subject. It is one of the Four Supernatural Creatures, the others being the dragon, the Ky-lin (unicorn) and the tortoise (kwei). Tradition assigns to the phœnix a pheasant's head, a swallow's bill, a tortoise's neck, and the outward semblance of a dragon. But these characteristics are seldom apparent in its ordinary delineations. It is