[55] Perhaps the earliest nien-hao on a piece of blue and white in which we can place any confidence.
[56] A predecessor of his as viceroy and superintendent at King-te-chen was Lang Ting-tso, from whom the famous Lang yao, the sang de bœuf, had its name, though this derivation is not absolutely certain. It could only have been quite in the last days of the latter viceroy’s rule that much good work was turned out from the kilns.
[57] It will be observed that the turquoise blue and the green, both derived from copper, so happily combined in the wall-tiles of the Saracenic East, are in China rarely found united in the decoration of the same piece, and this arises from practical difficulties connected with the fluxes and the firing. At least the two colours are never successfully combined, for the attempt was apparently made in Ming times, and of this some instances are given in the following note. Indeed I should be inclined to regard such a combination on any piece as an evidence of early, probably of Ming, origin.
[58] I would especially point to a remarkable water-vessel, about ten inches high, in the collection at Dresden. This vase is in the form of a phœnix. Green, as well as turquoise, purple and yellow are all found in the decoration, and the colours are all well developed. There is in the British Museum—a collection in many ways remarkable for the number of exceptional types illustrated—a jar with cover, of this class. The ground is a dull purple covered with small spirals of black; the rest of the decoration—rocks, waves, flowers, and jewels—is mainly green of two shades with a little yellow. On some of the flowers, however, we see a poor attempt at turquoise blue. Next to this example stands a baluster-shaped vase with tall, straight neck ([Pl. vii]. 2.). The ground is here of a pale greyish yellow, with crackles of a darker shade—so far, in fact, of a Ko yao type. The decoration is of a predominant leafy green, with a little purple and yellow here and there; but on the flowers we find, in addition, an enamel of turquoise, poor in colour, indeed, but certainly a copper blue. Both these examples are classed as Ming, and both would seem to show that the combination of the turquoise enamel (essentially a silicate of copper and soda) with the lead-fluxed green had been attempted in Ming times. It was, however, impossible to obtain satisfactory results in this way, so that in Kang-he’s time the turquoise was reserved for the demi grand feu, and the green alone used as an enamel over the glaze.
[59] ‘Muffle-colours,’ of course in these later examples painted over the glaze, and therefore to be classed as enamels.
[60] In this respect we may compare such decoration to a dark water-colour drawing on white paper, where advantage is only taken of the white ground for scattered lights here and there.
[61] We must always think of this great man in connection with his contemporary in France, Louis xiv. Omitting the early years of the French king, before he attained his majority, the two long reigns run almost exactly together.
[62] This list is to be found in Julien’s book. Dr. Bushell has since given a more accurate translation, accompanied by a careful analysis (Chinese Ceramics, chapter xii.).
[63] The red paste of early times was, however, imitated, and a ‘copper paste’ is also mentioned in connection with these old wares. The last expression is obscure, but it has certainly nothing to do with an enamel on copper.
[64] On the other hand, on some large showy vases of this time we can trace a series of rings, giving an uneven surface. These are caused either by the undue pressure of the potter’s fingers (vissage), or perhaps in part by the way in which the successive stages of the jar were built up with ‘sausage-shaped’ rolls of clay.