GREEN AND YELLOW FAMILY—"FAMILLE JAUNE."
A tall square taper-shape Vase, decorated with a bold design of lotus flowers, foliage, and birds, in various greens, aubergine, and black on brilliant yellow; on the shoulders in each corner is a Joo-e-head design in aubergine and green; the edgings in white biscuit with black borderings. This is a very interesting decoration. The surface of the water is represented by the numerous short horizontal lines. In the water, the lotus, the sweet-flag, and other water-loving plants are growing, just as if the artist had made his drawing from the banks of an actual pond in the open air. Besides being beautiful, the lotus is the sacred flower of Buddha. Its large tulip-like flowers may be white or tinted pink, blue or yellow, and they hang over broad leaves, in shape like the nasturtium leaf. It does not lie upon the water like the water-lily, but stands up from it upon a strong stem. The drawing shows bud, flower, and seed-pod. It is the last which is usually carried as an emblem by the goddess, Ho Seen-koo, though it may be a bud or a full-blown flower. The lotus belongs to the water-lily family, and the sacred lotus was anciently used in religious rites in Egypt and Assyria, whilst the Greeks dedicated it to the nymphs. Its constant use as an emblem seems to come from its wheel-like form. Like the Chakra, or "Wheel of the Law," it typifies the doctrine of perpetual cycles of existence. In fact, the spokes of the Chakra are often lotus-shaped. Kang-he period.
GREEN AND YELLOW FAMILY—"FAMILLE JAUNE."
An oval-shaped Jardinière, decorated with a diaper design in brilliant green and yellow enamels. The body is divided into four quatrefoil-shaped panels containing altar utensils and vases, which are most artistically drawn and enamelled in various greens, yellows, aubergine, and black, on a white ground. The diaper pattern which forms the groundwork is the diamond design, but the double lines cutting the diamond are so arranged to form the swastika. The swastika—"the ten thousand things"—is sometimes found as a mark upon blue and white or painted Chinese porcelain of fine quality. It may occur alone, or with a border of two oblongs like a seal shape, or four swastikas may be found in a similar border. In the front of the quatrefoil-shaped panel on the vases is another symbol, one of the hundred Cheous or Shows, the emblem of longevity. The curious instrument lying behind the vases is the lute wrapped in its cover. This stringed instrument consists of a board four feet long eighteen inches wide, convex above and flat below, where two holes open into hollows. There are seven strings. It is very ancient and constitutes an emblem of harmony. As Confucius writes: "Happy union with wife and children is like the music of lutes and harps." The other instrument represents a guitar, which was made in many forms, from the bamboo stick thrust into a cylinder of the same material, having only two strings, to the pipa, having four strings, like those of the violin. Kang-he.
E.—Coral Red Ground.
If there is another class which deserves mention it is that having a coral red ground thickly powdered it may be with white chrysanthemum leaves and flowers, decorated with joo-e-head ornaments or ornamented with deep rose, grey and white, yellow and white, pale blue and white, prunus blossom powdered upon a golden iced diaper, the emblem of the coming spring. This coral red ground—"rouge de fer"—differs from all the others in this class because it is an under-glaze decoration. It is essentially a Kang-he production, although some very fine specimens have the Keen-lung mark.
The reader has no doubt noticed the rivalry between these periods, and the values of coral red specimens are more affected by quality than perhaps by age.
