Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/230

 ment which increased until a very high degree of excellence was attained. The heavy and often uneven texture of the biscuit in large pieces of Wan-li ware and the rudely finished, rimless base disappeared. Thenceforth close-grained, homogeneous pâte and careful technique in every detail became essential. Similar progress was made in the domain of decorative art. Instead of confining himself to archaic dragons and phœnixes, grotesque figures of mythical beings, patterns borrowed from textile fabrics, and so forth, the decorator went to the realm of pictorial art for inspiration, and copied flowers, trees, landscapes, figures from contemporary life, domestic scenes, elaborate arabesques, rich floral scrolls, intricate diapers, and in short everything that could serve such a purpose. To this new departure are due the so-called "Mandarin Porcelains," which M. Jacquemart assigned: to Japan, because the decoration on other Chinese articles of vertu did not, so far as his knowledge went, offer examples of the official costumes prescribed by the Tartars. Even if this absence of parallel really existed, as stated by M. Jacquemart, it would not go far to support the theory or warrant the fancy that Japanese keramists could have chosen as a favourite decorative subject the persons and costumes of a foreign people, objects comparatively unfamiliar and quite unpicturesque. The "Mandarin Porcelains" had nothing whatever to do with Japan. Liberally as the potters of the latter country borrowed decorative designs from the Middle Kingdom, they seldom copied the official figures of the Tsing dynasty. All that need be noted with regard to the use of figure subjects on Chinese porcelain is that when the long flowing robe, the girdle with jade