Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/220

 branches twining round melon-shaped or chrysanthemum-shaped vases. These pieces are examples of highly refined taste and excellent technique. They show that the fame of the Chêng-hwa potters was not undeserved. H'siang says that the designs supplied to Ching-tê-chên for imperial porcelains were "drawn in the palace by celebrated artists," and that "the different colours were laid on and shaded with perfect skill."

In the Chêng-hwa era, as well as in the Hsuan-tê, comparatively coarse varieties of enamelled porcelain were manufactured. Doubtless many of these, did they survive, would be attractive objects in the eyes of Western collectors. But they are virtually non-existent. Chinese connoisseurs did not think them worth preserving, and the rare specimens found in Japan cannot be confidently regarded as genuine.

During the next three periods of the Ming dynasty—Hung-chih (1488–1505), Chên-tê (1506–1521), and Chia-ching (1522–1566)—the manufacture of enamelled porcelains appears to have been continued pretty much on the lines of the Chêng-hwa experts. In the Hung-chih era, special skill was developed in the production of yellow monochromes, and this colour occupied a prominent place in the choicest works of the time. In the Chêng-tê era, renewed supplies of the much prized Mohammedan blue having been obtained, pieces decorated with blue sous couverte came again into fashion, and were preferred to enamelled wares, though excellent specimens of the latter were no doubt made at Ching-tê-chên. The same remark applies to the next era, Chia-ching. In the Tao-lu it is stated that only vases decorated with blue under the glaze were