Fig. 104.—From Mr. Wales’s Collection.
The famille-rose, or red, describes a group where the rose and ruby colors are the distinguishing ones. This fine color is produced from gold. Nearly all of this work shows the color in low-relief.
Three very fine examples are given of this rose-family.
Fig. 103 is an octagon plate, with an exquisitely flowered and diapered border, from the collection of Miss Wyman, of Cambridge.
Figs. 104 and 105 are equally good, from Mr. Wales’s collection. In this class rank the delicate egg-shell cups and saucers with “rose-backs,” in which Mr. Andrews’s collection at New York is so rich.
In these three divisions is contained much of the very best productions of China. The chrysanthemum and peony decoration was probably most in use, and was made in greater quantities than any. Some of the older pieces of this show the chrysanthemum in black ([Fig. 99]), as well as in other colors. The body of this group is not so fine as the two later descriptions, but the decoration is full of beauty and variety. In the green and rose groups, the paste, the decoration, and the coloring, reached perfection; and it is impossible to surpass the best work of these classes.
