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Some time, then, during the sixteenth century, whether before or after the accession of Wan-li (1572), the Chinese began to decorate the surface of their porcelain with jewel-like enamels appliqués to the glaze. At first, apparently, these colours were confined to three: a copper green, a yellow generally of a buff tint, probably containing antimony as well as iron, and a purple derived from manganese. These are the San-tsai or three colours of the Chinese writers, and it will be seen that they differ from the colour triad of our ‘painted glazes’ (painted, that is, on biscuit and reheated in the demi grand feu) in that the copper silicate is of a turquoise blue in the latter, and in the former of a full leafy green. The Chinese authorities further tell us that a second scheme of decoration was given by the Wu-tsai or the five colours which were made up by the three already mentioned, with the addition of an opaque red derived from the sesqui-oxide of iron (otherwise known as hæmatite, bole or red ochre),⁴⁷ and finally of a cobalt blue, sous couverte, surviving as it were from the earlier blue and white ware, for, as we have mentioned, the use of the blue as an enamel over the glaze belongs to a later period.

So much for the teaching of the Chinese books; but when, attacking the subject from the other side, we examine the specimens of enamelled ware which for one reason or another—the coarseness and thickness of the paste, the moulded form, and the irregular surface—we should be inclined to attribute to the Ming dynasty, we are led to classify these earlier examples somewhat as follows:—

1. On a white ground a design, often, it would seem, of textile origin, roughly painted in an opaque red (like sealing-wax), with the addition of a leafy green and very rarely of a little yellow. This is a class of decoration much imitated in Japan at a later date, especially by the artist potters of Kioto and at Inuyama.

2. The same colours with the addition of blue, sous couverte. The design often takes the form of figures in a landscape, the whole broadly treated. The earliest type of the Imari ware (apart from the Kakiyemon) seems to be based on this scheme of decoration.

Both these classes are distinguished by the white ground, the sparing use of yellow, and the almost complete absence of manganese purple and turquoise blue.

3. A transparent enamel of leafy green, yellow and manganese purple painted on in washes so as to cover the whole ground. When with these colours we find the outline drawn in black, we have the basis of a large part of the famille verte. On the other hand, it is this class of decoration which probably carries on the tradition of the early Ming ware, sometimes described as ‘enamelled,’ but more probably all of it painted on the biscuit and fired in the demi grand feu.

In China it would seem that these enamelled wares were at first treated with a certain disfavour, if not with contempt, at least by the more cultivated classes. During Ming times, though porcelain thus decorated was doubtless made at King-te-chen, it was, at least up to the latter part of the reign of Wan-li, chiefly made in private factories. In fact we find a censor, in the reign of that emperor, protesting against the use of enamel colours (the wu-tsai) in the porcelain supplied to the palace (Bushell, p. 241).

PLATE VII. CHINESE

We have now sketched out a description of the various kinds of porcelain made during the course of the Ming dynasty, and before going on at once to an account of the period associated with King-te-chen and the great rulers of the Manchu dynasty, it will be well to extract a few notes on points that may interest us from the somewhat voluminous records and descriptions of the porcelain of Ming times found in the books of the Chinese authorities.⁴⁸

Yung-lo (1402-24).⁴⁹—This great emperor, who sent out ships for conquest and for commerce as far as Ceylon, is for us especially associated with a white eggshell porcelain of which there are two remarkable specimens in the British Museum (see above, p. 67). Bowls of this thinness must have been pared down on the lathe, after throwing on the wheel, in the manner described on p. 22, until a mere translucent ghost of the original body was left, so that the name to-t’ai or ‘bodiless,’ by which this ware is known to the Chinese, is not inappropriate. The earliest blue and white porcelain of which there is any definite record was made in this reign, but the evidence for this is, of course, purely ‘documentary.’ The quality of the blue is said to have been surpassed only by that of the Hsuan-te and Cheng-hua periods.

Hsuan-te (1425-35).—The short reign of this emperor is connected in the mind of the Chinese with the finest works both of the metal worker and the potter. This period gave its name to the famous pale bronze so admired in later days by the Japanese.⁵⁰ The blue of the Hsuan-te period, unsurpassed in later times, we are told, was derived from Arab sources, for the famous Su-ni-po and Su-ma-li blues are first mentioned at this time. The word Su-ma-li has been compared with the low Latin Smaltum, the prepared silicate of cobalt used by the mediæval glass-stainers, but from the description of this substance in the Chinese books, it would seem rather to have been of the nature of a native ore. When, however, we read in the same books of the origin of the brilliant red for which this reign was equally famous, how it was prepared from ‘powdered rubies of the West,’ we see how little reliance we can place in their accounts. This red, derived of course from the sub-oxide of copper, was applied either to cover the whole surface, as in the little bowls mentioned on p. 81 (‘painted on the biscuit,’ says Dr. Bushell, but is this necessarily so?), or for the painting of a design in this case both alone and in combination with blue. We hear also of large jars and garden seats of a coarse porcelain, with dark blue and turquoise ground and decoration of ribbed cloisons, which were first made in this reign. Of this class we have spoken at length when treating of the ‘painted glazes.‘⁵¹ Of what nature the decoration in five colours, which is also referred to this reign, may have been, it is difficult to say—we have no specimen so painted that we can assign to so old a period, but in this connection we certainly must not think of enamels painted over the glaze.

Cheng-tung reigned from 1435 to 1449; he was then captured by the Mongols, and during the five years of his imprisonment his brother Cheng-tai reigned in his stead. When Cheng-tung returned from his captivity he adopted a fresh name.⁵² This is the only instance of a double nien-hao in later Chinese history. We hear of Cheng-tai in connection with the introduction of enamels on metal, but for the history of porcelain both reigns are a blank.

Cheng-hua (1464-87).—This is a name familiar to collectors. It is found more frequently than any other on highly finished vases dating really from the eighteenth century. Strangely enough, this is the favourite mark on the finest blue and white of this later time, although, as we have already pointed out, the Chinese books tell us that, the sources of the foreign cobalt blue being in Cheng-hua’s time exhausted, more attention was given to coloured decoration. This was the time of the famous ‘chicken-cups,’ for which such fabulous sums were given. These cups are described as decorated with the wu-tsai or five colours; and the subject painted on them, a hen and chickens by the side of a flowering peony-bush, reminds one of the enamelled egg-shell cups of Kien-lung (1735-95). The Ming cups were copied, we are told, at that time; but it is difficult to connect this early ware, of which unfortunately we possess no specimen, with the delicate enamel decoration of the famille rose.⁵³

Hung-chi (1487-1505).—This name appears especially on the back of bowls in association with a yellow glaze of various shades, and, in agreement this time with the material evidence, the Chinese books mention this yellow as a speciality of the reign. Not that we can regard all yellow ware with this mark as even of this dynasty; like other Ming ware it was imitated in the eighteenth century. The yellow varies from the pale brown of the raw chestnut to a full gamboge tint. There is at South Kensington a dish or shallow bowl with a full yellow glaze; on the back beside the nien-hao of Hung-chi, a Persian inscription and a date corresponding to the sixteenth century has been cut in the paste.

Cheng-te (1505-21).—The decoration of blue on a white ground is said to have been revived in this reign. A new material, the hui-ching⁵⁴ or Mohammedan blue, was obtained from Yun-nan. In connection with this, we can point to a curious collection of bronze and porcelain, with both Arabic and Chinese inscriptions, made probably for Mohammedan Chinese. These objects were obtained by the late Sir A. W. Franks from Pekin, and are now in the British Museum. Among them there are several pieces of blue and white with the Cheng-te year-mark.⁵⁵ On one of these pieces the Persian word for ‘writing-case’ forms part of the decoration (Pl. viii.). It is in this reign that we hear for the first time of the oppression exercised by the court officials upon the potters of King-te-chen, and now also we find the court eunuchs in the highest positions,—the great days of the Ming dynasty are already passed.

Kia-tsing (1521-66).—The name of this emperor is often found on blue and white porcelain, and it is a favourite one with the Japanese imitators. Some specimens in our collections, of a fine sapphire blue (the colour is indeed often inclined to run), may perhaps be referred to this reign. The demands for the court were very extensive, and if we are to trust the list of articles quoted by Dr. Bushell from the Fou-liang annals, the porcelain made for the palace during this period was, with the exception of a little of that with a brown ground, confined to blue and white ware.

PLATE VIII. CHINESE, BLUE AND WHITE WARE

Lung-king (1566-72).—The bad reputation of this emperor is reflected in the porcelain of the time—indeed the erotic character of the decoration is the one point noted in the annals. The mark of this reign is rarely found. There is, however, in the British Museum a large square support or plinth, decorated with a blue of magnificent sapphire hue, which bears the Lung-king nien-hao.

Wan-li (1572-1619).—Of the porcelain surviving from Ming times, a very large proportion probably belongs to this reign. It was now that the European trade was beginning to reach large proportions, and the exportation both to India and Persia was greater than ever. It was a time above all for the manufacture of large pieces, but we must not look any longer for the refinement and scholarly traditions of earlier Ming periods. Dr. Bushell tells us that large bowls of the Wan-li ware are still in use in the shops and stalls of Pekin. For us the difficulty is to distinguish the blue and white ware of this reign from that made for exportation during the next half century, a period during which the annals of the Chinese authorities are a blank. The reign of Wan-li is above all the period during which the use of enamel colours became prevalent, and now, for the first time, some of the ware made for the palace was, in spite of the protests of the censor, so decorated. But we will reserve what we have to say on the origin of Chinese enamelled ware until we come to treat of the progress made in the reign of Kang-he.

CHAPTER   VII
THE PORCELAIN OF CHINA—(continued)

The Manchu or Tsing Dynasty (1643—)

KANG-HE.—After the death of Wan-li, in 1619, there is a long gap in the history of Chinese porcelain. Some twenty years later, the last emperor of the native dynasty was driven out by the Manchu Tatars, and the dynasty which still reigns in the country was founded. But neither during the reign of the first emperor of the new Tsing or ‘Pure’ dynasty, nor indeed during the first part of the long reign of his great successor Kang-he (1661-1722), was much attention given to the imperial factory at King-te-chen. The early years of Kang-he’s reign were occupied with quelling the last efforts of the native Chinese party. We may date the revival of active work from the appointment of Tsang Ying-hsuan,⁵⁶ in the year 1683, to the post of superintendent at the porcelain works. It was then, after an interval of more than sixty years—almost a blank in the history of Chinese porcelain—that the great renaissance set in, and we may date from that time the beginning of the last great stage in that history—a stage which was to last for another hundred years. During that period a succession of able and enthusiastic men were in charge of the imperial works. With the support of the great emperors who ruled in China for three long generations, they were able to bring the manufacture of porcelain to a point of perfection reached neither before nor since, and to produce that wonderful series of vases, bowls, and plates that now fill the museums and private collections of Europe and America.

It will perhaps be better to carry on our hasty historical sketch down to the period of decline at the end of the eighteenth century, before turning to the letters of the Père D’Entrecolles and his account of the great city of the potter—King-te-chen. We shall then be in a better position to understand the almost endless series of different wares that were turned out from the kilns of that town in the eighteenth century. We can finally make a rapid survey of the porcelain of China, picking up many threads that have been dropped in the course of our historical review.

We have seen that the Chinese authorities when describing the coloured ware of the Ming period speak of two ‘triads’ of colours. One, the turquoise, purple and yellow group, we have identified with the ware painted on the biscuit and reheated in the demi grand feu; while the other, the green, purple and yellow class may be regarded as one of the earliest forms of true enamel or muffle decoration. These two classes were now in the earlier days of Kang-he brought to greater perfection, and as by this time we have come to a period when the finer wares began to be largely exported direct to Europe, we meet with many specimens of these wares in our collections.

In the first of these groups the Turquoise is the predominant colour—indeed it is often found alone (Pl. ix.). As a monochrome ware it is distinguished by a fine crackle, which is always present but is often only to be seen by a close examination. How much it is sought after by collectors is shown by the fact mentioned by Dr. Bushell, that in the Walters collection there are more than a hundred specimens of this monochrome blue, and of these the majority probably date from the reign of Kang-he. A combination of this turquoise with aubergine purple derived from manganese was in favour at this time not only for the little magots and for small vases, but also for larger decorative pieces as well as for tables and stands for other objects. It was above all this combination that was copied by Zengoro and others for the ‘Oniwa’ ware of the Princes of Kishiu, and some of this Japanese porcelain is very difficult to distinguish from the Chinese original. The aubergine purple, like the turquoise, always finely crackled, is seldom found alone in Chinese examples, but this is often the case on the Kishiu ware. The third colour of the triad, the yellow, is quite subordinate; there were evidently great difficulties in producing a fine tint under the conditions of the demi grand feu. In like manner in the early Ming ware, that with the ribbed cloisons, the yellow was only used sparingly for the petals of a flower or for a chain of pearls. It should be noted that this ware of Kang-he differs from its Ming predecessor in the absence of the dark blue glaze.

Famille Verte.—In the first triad, that of the demi grand feu, the turquoise blue, as we have seen, is the predominant colour. Its place is taken in the triad of the muffle-stove by the green, which in many shades of intensity, but with a prevailing leafy hue, has come to be especially associated with the enamelled wares of this reign.⁵⁷

PLATE IX. CHINESE

It would be possible to make many subdivisions of this class—the well-known famille verte. In the majority of cases the ground is covered by a wash of one of the colours, so as to resemble a painted glaze. It will, however, always be found on close examination that the wash is superimposed on the true colourless glaze, which may generally be seen at the mouth and foot. A green of greater or lesser strength, sometimes quite a thin wash, is the commonest colour for this ground; at other times it is of a pale straw colour, or, more rarely, a purple of a poor uncertain hue.⁵⁸

It will be observed that in the muffle-stove the fine aubergine purple that we noted in the class last described is rarely to be obtained from manganese. In all cases the white ground is only left sparingly as a reserve for the petals of flowers and for the faces. In addition to these colours—the green, the yellow, and the purple—which are for the most part used as washes, a dark brown or black is largely employed for outlining the details of the decoration, as well as for tempering the colour of the background by covering it with scrolls and spirals.

When this decoration is applied to the small moulded pieces—the magots, for instance, so admired by the French collectors of the eighteenth century—we have a class of objects to which the descriptions (in the Bushell manuscript and elsewhere) of the decorated ware of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries would seem to apply. As we have seen, it is at the least very doubtful whether these early pieces were decorated over the glaze, but in a general view it cannot fail to strike one that the Kang-he decoration, in which washes of colour⁵⁹ play so important a part, belongs to an earlier school than that of the Wan-li porcelain, with its designs and medallions scattered over a white ground. These last patterns are, it would seem, derived from textile fabrics, from the rich brocades of the time, both Chinese and, possibly, foreign. In the famille verte of Kang-he’s time, on the other hand, we may perhaps see a return, in general effect at least, to the san-tsai and wu-tsai painted glazes of earlier Ming time.

When in place of the wash of green (or may be of yellow) the background is formed by a black enamel, we still feel the prevailing influence of the green in the decoration, so that these black-ground vases are rightly included in the famille verte. The black background itself is often of a greenish quality, and in the designs the camellia-leaf green is predominant; yellow and purple are but sparingly introduced, but the effect is heightened by the white reserves (Pl. x.). In many cases a wash of green appears to have been carried over the black ground. This green enamel may be often seen overlapping, as it were, on the foot of a vase.

It would be difficult to find in the whole range of Chinese porcelain anything more superbly decorative than some of these large black-grounded vases in the Salting collection. We would call attention to one example on which the thin skin-like glaze of the dull ground and the somewhat archaic drawing of the great dragon that curls round the side suggest a date earlier than that of its companions (Pl. xi.). And yet these fine vases are wanting in two elements which we are accustomed to regard as essential to the best porcelain: they neither display to any extent the natural white colour of the paste,⁶⁰ nor is the outline dependent on the motion of the clay under the potter’s hand. Nearly all these vases, as indeed most of the large vessels of this time, are built up from segments made in moulds.

PLATE X CHINESE

What rich effects of colour are here obtained with a palette so restricted! Perhaps not a little of the beauty of this decoration is due to this very restriction. It will be noticed that we have in the more characteristic examples a total absence of all shades both of red and of blue.

In the other not less important division of the enamel decoration of this time these last two colours are added, and we come again to a pentad of colours—not, however, quite the same as the wu-tsai of Wan-li times. We are still under the influence of the famille verte: the leafy green in two or more shades remains the predominant colour, the opaque red is used more sparingly than in the later Ming enamelled ware, and above all the cobalt blue is now used as an enamel colour over the glaze. This latter use points to an important advance in technique, and it affords an easy means of distinguishing the wares of the two periods. The new method of employing the blue is, however, often only to be recognised by close examination in a favourable light. What at once distinguishes the newer ware is rather the displacement of the opaque red of the Ming porcelain by the characteristic green of the Kang-he time as the dominant colour. When this full complement of five colours is used, the general scheme of the design, however, follows more on the lines of the Wan-li ware; we find sprays of flowers or figure subjects relieved upon the white ground. But the drawing of the newer ware is somewhat more realistic, and there is generally a greater finish. In rare cases the five colours are combined with the black ground, as may be seen on two large vases in the British Museum, but the effect is not so happy as that obtained with a simpler range of colours.

There is another position in which these five enamel colours may be found together—in the decoration of the white reserves left between grounds of bleu poudré and fond laque. This was a form of decoration much admired in Europe, and one of the earliest imitated. This fond laque ware of various shades, with reserved panels decorated with flowers or figures, has retained among dealers the designation of Batavian porcelain, a name which, like our old terms Gombroon and East Indian, throws light on the route by which it reached Europe. The deep blue vases covered with elaborate designs in gold were also exported before the end of the seventeenth century; of these large specimens have been sometimes found in India. There is a tall vase of this ware in the Indian Museum at South Kensington—the gilding, as is often the case, has almost entirely disappeared.

In the historical development of our subject, which we are now following with greater or less strictness, we are only concerned with important developments and fresh types as they from time to time arise. We have therefore little to say for the present of the blue and white and of the wares with monochrome glazes of which we have so many superb specimens dating from the reign of Kang-he. We must, however, mention in passing the brilliant sang de bœuf vases especially associated with the early years of this emperor. As in the case of the ‘transmutation’ or flambé glazes, the deep red colour of this ware is produced by the action of a reducing flame upon a silicate of copper. It is known in China as Lang yao, and there has been some misconception as to the origin of the term. If, as the best authorities tell us, we are to derive the name from Lang Ting-tso, the famous viceroy of the Two Kiangs (the provinces of Kiangsi and Kiangnan) at the time of the accession of Kang-he, the earliest form of this Lang yao must be associated with a period (say about the years 1654-1668) which is otherwise quite sterile in the annals of Chinese porcelain.

Plate XI.

Chinese. Black ground.

Yung-cheng (1722-1735).—When in 1722, after a reign of more than sixty years, Kang-he,⁶¹ perhaps the greatest of all the emperors of China, died, we find a note of alarm sounded by the Jesuit fathers. Unlike his father, Yung-cheng the new emperor was regarded as a supporter of the most conservative traditions, and no friend of the Christian missionaries. What, however, is important to us is the fact that as crown-prince he was known not only as a patron of the works at King-te-chen, but as himself an amateur potter of distinction. The Père D’Entrecolles, writing before Yung-cheng’s accession to the throne, tells us that it was his habit to send down from Pekin examples of ancient wares to be copied at the imperial factory. This influence, exercised in a conservative direction, is reflected in the porcelain produced during his reign.

This is indeed a critical point in the history of Chinese porcelain. We are reminded of some similar periods in the development of our Western arts, when it begins to become evident that a command of material and a technical finish have been attained at the expense of all spontaneity and freshness of expression. Some such tendency was accompanied at this time in China by a careful and deliberate imitation of ancient forms and glazes. Under Nien Hsi-yao, the new superintendent at King-te-chen, some advance was certainly made—we shall speak of the Nien yao and the new colours that distinguished it directly. We must not overlook, however, the influence of the foreign demand which more and more made itself felt, an influence opposed to the conservative and classical tastes of the emperor.

But when we run through the long list, under fifty-seven headings, of the various wares copied at King-te-chen at this time,⁶² we see how strong this classical influence was. In fact, this catalogue is one of our best sources of information for the ancient, and especially for the Sung, wares. The chief concern of the compiler was with the glazes, for no attempt seems to have been made to copy the thick and rough pastes of the early days.⁶³ We can infer from some of the heads of the list that most of the highly perfected glazes of the day, ranging through every shade of colour, were considered to be but modifications of the old simple glazes of Sung times. This was an essentially Chinese way of looking at the matter, and by this indirect path it was possible to reach the most novel effects. Among the later headings of Nien’s list (it was to some extent chronologically arranged) we find mention of copies of Japanese wares, and frequent reference is made to colours and decorations of European origin. We shall have to make more than one reference to this important catalogue in a later chapter.

It was under the régime of Nien Hsi-yao that this list was drawn up. He was the second of the great viceroys whose names are associated with the emperors Kang-he, Yung-cheng, and Kien-lung respectively. He succeeded to Tsang Ying-hsuan, and was followed in the next reign by Tang-ying. The wares made during the administration of these superintendents are known in chronological order as Tsang yao, Nien yao, and Tang yao. This Nien did not regard his post by any means as a sinecure. He frequently visited the works, and required samples of the imperial ware to be sent every two months to his official residence for inspection (Bushell, p. 361).

The Nien yao, to the Chinese collector, is especially associated with certain monochrome glazes—above all with the clair de lune—the yueh pai or ‘moon-white,’ and with a brilliant red glaze with stippled surface, a near cousin to the sang de bœuf and flambé classes. There is another ‘self-glaze’ ware which dates from this time, of which the mingled tints depend, as in the case of the flambé, upon the varying degrees of oxidation of the copper in the glaze. This is the ‘peach-bloom,’ the ‘apple red and green’ of the Chinese. The charm of this delicate ware is of another kind to that to be found in the vigorous flashes of colour of the transmutation glazes.

We can trace at this time the gradual introduction of two new colours that give so special a character to the wares of the next reign. I mean the pink derived from gold and the lemon-yellow. These colours were used sparingly and with great delicacy at first, but we come to associate them at a later time with a period of decline and of bad taste.

Kien-lung (1735-1795).—It was during the long reign of this emperor, poet and patron of all the arts, that the new direction which we find given to the porcelain made in the reign of his father, Yung-cheng, became even more accentuated—on the one hand, the copying of old glazes and the employment of archaic hieratic patterns for decoration, on the other, the more and more frequent use of new colours and new designs of non-Chinese origin. This latter tendency was fostered both by the eclectic tastes of Kien-lung himself and also by the increasing importance of the demand for foreign countries. Great care was given to the paste—it was required to be of a snowy (or rather sometimes chalky) whiteness, tending neither towards yellow nor towards blue, and so carefully finished on the lathe that on the uniform glassy surface of the finer specimens no signs were left of the movement of the potter’s wheel;⁶⁴ for compared with the ware produced in Ming times, and even during the reign of Kang-he, we now note the greater proportion of pieces thrown on the wheel. At no time has the skill of the potter who threw the clay, and of the workman who then pared and smoothed the surface on the lathe, been brought to a greater perfection, and this applies not only to the eggshell china, but to the large vases and beakers, so perfect in their outline. The same perfection of technique is found in the decoration, so that a blue and white vase of this period can at once be recognised in spite of the pseudo-archaic decoration and the Ming nien hao inscribed on the base. When the new colours are introduced the date is, of course, approximately fixed, and we may probably associate with the beginning of this reign (or perhaps a little earlier; see note on p. 110) the first use of the rouge d’or which has given its name to a well-known class of porcelain—the famille rose.