Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/241

 the colour of which is transmitted through the translucid pâte, producing an indescribably soft and delicate effect like that seen in the enamel of a sea-shell. The upper surface is sparsely or profusely decorated with finely executed designs in coloured enamels. In some specimens, highly prized by Chinese connoisseurs, this enamel decoration is absent: in its place are found designs incised in the biscuit and showing faintly through the glaze. The enamels used in decorating these ruby-backs and rose-backs are not always of the Famille Rose type. Frequently the brilliant, vitreous colours of the Famille Verte are employed, and in such cases the designs are not confined to floral subjects; figures and landscapes also make their appearance. These latter porcelains belong to the Rose Family chiefly in respect of the enamel covering of their under surface.

Another very beautiful variety of the Rose Family is distinguished by the distribution of the decoration in medallions. In these pieces the inner surface is either white or has floral designs in blue sous couverte. On the outer surface medallions containing floral or figure subjects, landscapes, birds and so forth, are divided by a yellow, ruby, pink, green, or red ground, which is chagrined and enriched by floral scrolls engraved in the paste. Such ware is well known to Western collectors. It includes the much prized "Medallion bowls," made for imperial use, perhaps the most elaborately decorated examples of Chinese porcelain. The porcelain itself is not so thin and does not belong to so high a technical grade as that of the ruby-backs and rose-backs. It is characteristic of an era when the keramist depended on wealth of decoration rather than on quality of paste and