Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/254

 CHINA

surrounding light purple (garnet) designs — generally dragons. Such porcelains are exceedingly rare. Chi- nese experts refer their origin to the Chéng-hwa era of the Ming dynasty, but there are no specimens to be seen dating from so distant a period. Green of less transparent character was also used as a field for arabesques, floral scrolls, and so forth, in gold. This fashion seems to have originated in the 18th century. Chocolate glaze with floral designs in coloured enamels is another chaste and beautiful variety. This glaze, the fond lacque of French collectors, will be spoken of in a subsequent chapter. It does not appear to have been used as a field for enamel decora- tion before the close of the Kang-hsi era, for the enamels applied to it are always of the Famille Rose type. ME he reader will have noticed that the potters of the Sung dynasty almost invariably took ancient bronzes as models for their choicest pieces, in respect of shape and decoration alike. This fashion was fol- lowed in a peculiarly realistic manner by the Yung- ching (1723-1736) experts, who conceived the idea of reproducing not only the shapes and designs of fine bronzes, but also their surface. In the early years of the Mzng dynasty there had been manufactured in China an exceedingly beautiful bronze, pervaded by a golden hue and having its surface dappled with gold. The Yung-ching potters set themselves to imi- tate this and succeeded admirably. ‘They produced solid tea-green fields, speckled with yellow so finely and uniformly that the latter colour seemed to per- vade the whole, except where it was interrupted by golden flecks floating in the glaze. Round. these pieces ran bands of diaper, arabesques, or floral scrolls 226