Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/348

 CHINA

glaze to which Chinese connoisseurs give a place among Imperial Wares. Many Western collectors will doubtless hold that the close, circular “ fish-roe ”’ crackle commonly seen on good pieces of turquoise blue is an additional charm. It is at all events cer- tain that among the latter are to be found numerous specimens of great merit. Many of them are modelled after ancient bronzes, not only the shapes of the latter but also their designs, incised and in relief, being accurately reproduced. ‘The Chinese potters were also fond of using turquoise blue as a body colour in statuettes of sacred personages and mythical animals. In such cases they often combine it with purple and occasionally with yellow and white glazes, sacrificing every principle of congruity to their love of rich, striking tints. It is curious that this prosti- tution of beautiful materials and skilled technique to barbaric conceptions should have found so much favour with Western collectors. Jacquemart men- tions that ware of this description was much prized in France at the end of the last century. He in- stances small pieces which were sold at auction for prices ranging from 340 to 1,800 francs, and adds that, in his own time (1875), a vase decorated with a group of carp in violet swimming among aquatic plants in turquoise blue fetched as much as 3,000 francs. Purchasers of such pieces cannot be said to have attached much value to artistic congruity.

As arule only the choicest variety of the “ king- fisher’? monochrome is marked; the mark generally being a year period engraved in seal character.