[435] La Porcelaine Chinoise, p. 216.
[436] See p. [225]. “In the new copies of the Western style of painting in enamels (hsi yang fa lang hua fa), the landscapes and figure scenes, the flowering plants and birds are without exception of supernatural beauty.”
[438] P. 397.
[439] An interesting series of these bird’s egg glazes appearing, as they often do, on tiny vases was exhibited by his Excellency the Chinese Minister at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in November, 1913.
[440] There is a very old superstition in China that cracked or broken pottery is the abode of evil spirits. The modern collector abhors the cracked or damaged specimen for other reasons, and it is certain that such things would not be admitted to the Imperial collections. Many rare and interesting pieces which have come to Europe in the past will be found on examination to be more or less defective, and it is probable that we owe their presence chiefly to this circumstance.
[441] See Bushell’s translation, op. cit., p. 6.
[442] The T’ao shuo was published in 1774.
[444] See Julien, op. cit., p. 101, under the heading lung kang yao (kilns for the dragon jars).