Coming again to later times, we find that at Herend, in Hungary, a manufacturer named Fischer, at about 1839, made a special feature of the imitation of Oriental porcelain, and his finest specimens are most deceptive. It is a great shame that pieces from this factory are so frequently used fraudulently by unscrupulous dealers. Again, at Talavera, near Toledo, in the later eighteenth century, perfect imitations of Oriental china were made, which, even as imitations, are valued everywhere for the beauty of the glaze and brilliance of the colour.
It is the slavish attention and too faithfully carrying out the detail that reveals the forgery to the expert. On this point one might almost say that the very skilful forgery of a five pound Bank of England note would deceive an expert, but there is always some apparently trivial point and detail, either omitted or added, which makes the forgery clear to those who really know.
Although various marks were copied in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from porcelain belonging to earlier periods, it was not done with the idea of forgery or deception, but as a mark of reverence and appreciation of former masters. The mark most copied was in the reign of Yung-ching, when the Ching-hwa mark was often introduced into self-colour pieces.
It may further interest students to learn that many examples of the old porcelain, which are broken and yet put together without any of the portions being lost, are the result of the duty which was levied in the beginning of the eighteenth century on porcelain imported into England. Perfect specimens were liable to heavy charges, damaged ones came in free, and as at that time the values were in all probability what is paid to-day for a good modern plate or vase, or even less, pieces wanted for decoration were broken without any compunction, the pieces saved, and afterwards stuck together. Such examples are well worth acquiring, and the fact of the damage reduces the price, but so long as there are no portions missing, or the original beauty of the decoration impaired, the collector will be well advised not to pass such articles by on account of the break as there are many very fine examples which were thus ruthlessly treated.
XXII
SYMBOLICAL
DESIGNS
CHAPTER XXII
SYMBOLICAL DESIGNS
A.—Emblems in Animals.
We have already remarked how the Chinese employed ornament to their works in porcelain, not alone to please the eye, but to elevate the mind at the same time. It is evident that the realisation of these two aims must have been dependent not alone upon the highest technical skill, but upon the religious knowledge either possessed by the artist or handed down in traditional form from generation to generation. Hence the character of their work was determined and imbued by religious influences.
In every age pottery has been a vehicle for the display of art, and the wonderful productions of the East embody in symbolised form the highest aspirations of religions with which we are but imperfectly acquainted.