The Emperor, K’ang Hsi, was succeeded by his son, who reigned from 1723–1735 under the title Yung Chêng. The interest which the new ruler had taken as a prince in ceramic manufactures is proved by a passage in the first letter (written in 1712) of Père d’Entrecolles in which he instances among remarkable examples of the potter’s skill a “great porcelain lamp made in one piece, through which a torch gave light to a whole room. This work was ordered seven or eight years ago by the Crown Prince.” We are further told that the same prince had ordered the manufacture of various musical instruments in porcelain. These could not all be made, but the most successful were flutes and flageolets, and a set of chimes made of nine small, round and slightly concave plaques, which hung in a frame, and were played with drum-sticks. Apparently the Emperor continued to take an intimate interest in the industry after he had ascended the throne, for he commanded his brother the prince of Yi to announce personally to T’ang Ying his appointment at Ching-tê Chên in 1728.
At the beginning of the reign the direction of the Imperial factory was in the hands of Nien Hsi-yao,[369] who, in his capacity of inspector of customs at Huai-an Fu,[370] dispensed the funds for the Imperial porcelain. A brief note in the T’ao lu,[371] under the heading “Nien ware of the Yung Chêng period,” sums up in the usual compressed style of Chinese ceramic writers the character of the porcelain made at this time. The duty of Nien, inspector of customs at Huai-an Fu, we read, was to select the materials, and to see that the porcelain was furnished to the Imperial orders. The ware was extremely refined and elegant. The coloured porcelains were sent twice monthly to Nien at the Customs, and forwarded by him to the Emperor. Among the vases (cho ch’i) many were of egg colour, and of rounded form, lustrous and pure white like silver. They combined blue and coloured decoration, and some had painted, engraved, etched, or pierced ornament all ingeniously fashioned. Imitation of the antique and invention of novelties, these were truly the established principles of Nien.
The interesting list of wares made at the Imperial factory which is given in detail on pp. [223–226] supplies a full commentary on this meagre notice, illustrating the types which are merely hinted in the T’ao lu and specifying the particular kinds of antiques which were reproduced and many of the new processes invented in this reign. With regard to the last, however, it appears that the chief credit was due to Nien’s gifted assistant, T’ang Ying. Most of the actual processes, such as carving, engraving, piercing à jour, embossing in high and low relief, blowing on of the glazes, painting in enamels, in gold and in silver,[372] have already been described in previous chapters. Indeed we may assume that all the science of the K’ang Hsi potters was inherited by their successors in the Yung Chêng period, and we need only concern ourselves with the novelties and the specialities of the period.
A few words should be said first about the ware itself. Necessary variations in the appearance of the Ching-tê Chên porcelain, which were due to purely natural causes such as the use of clays of varying qualities or those from different localities, have been noted from time to time. These differences are generally quite obvious and they explain themselves. But apart from these there are numerous instances in which the potters have deliberately departed from the normal recipes in order to obtain some special effect. Thus we saw that the ch’ing-tien stone was introduced into the body in imitations of the opaque and rather earthy-looking white Ting Chou ware; hua shih (steatite) was used for another type of opaque porcelain which offered a vellum-like surface to the blue painter; and coarse, impure clays were found of great service in the imitation of the dark-coloured body of the antique wares.
Many other modifications appear in the porcelain of the first half of the eighteenth century. There is, for instance, a very dead white ware, soft looking, but translucent, which occurs on some of the choicer examples of armorial porcelain.[373] There are several specimens of this in the British Museum, one of which bears the early date, 1702, while others belong to the Yung Chêng period. Again there is the highly vitreous ware evolved by T’ang Ying to imitate the opaque glass of Ku-yüeh-hsüan; but that will be discussed later.[374] These special bodies were mainly employed for articles of small size and ornamental design, and they can be studied in all their varieties in a representative collection of snuff bottles. The Chinese potters lavished all their skill on these dainty little objects. Not only do they include every kind of ware, crackled or plain, translucent or opaque, but they illustrate in miniature every variety of decoration—monochrome, painted, carved, moulded, incised, pierced and embossed. Probably the choicest snuff bottles were made in the Yung Chêng and Ch’ien Lung periods; but the Chinese have never ceased to delight in them, and many beautiful examples were manufactured in the nineteenth century, particularly in the Tao Kuang period.
The ordinary Yung Chêng porcelain differs but little from that of the previous reign, though it tends to assume a whiter appearance, and the green tinge of the glaze is less marked. Moreover, a change is noticeable in the finish of the base rim of vases and bowls. Bevelling of the edge is less common, and gives place to a rounded or angular finish, the foot rim being often almost
shaped; while the slight tinge of brown around the raw edge, which is usual on K’ang Hsi wares, is often entirely absent. The actual potting of the porcelain displays a wonderful degree of manipulative skill, and the forms, though highly finished, are not lacking in vigour. They are, in fact, a happy mean between the strong, free lines of the K’ang Hsi and the meticulous finish of the later Ch’ien Lung porcelains. The verdict of the T’ao lu, “extremely refined and elegant,” is fully justified by the porcelain itself no less than by its decoration.
Not the least deserving of this praise, though mainly made for export, is the important group discussed on page 209, viz. the saucer dishes, plates, tea and coffee wares, etc., of delicate white porcelain, painted, apparently at Canton, in the famille rose enamels. It is an “eggshell” porcelain, white, thin, and beautifully finished, and the dainty little conical or bell-shaped tea cups, though without handles, are the perfection of table ware. This kind of “eggshell” is easily distinguished from the Ming type, which is greener in tone and has the appearance of melting snow by transmitted light.
The Yung Chêng period is not conspicuous for blue and white porcelain. The perfection of the famille rose colours and the growing demand for enamelled wares seem to have withdrawn the attention of the potters from their old speciality. Marked examples of Yung Chêng blue and white are so uncommon that it is difficult to estimate the merits of the ware from them. A saucer dish in the British Museum shows the familiar pattern of a prunus spray reserved in white in a marbled blue ground; but though the ware itself preserves much of the K’ang Hsi character, the blue is dull and grey, and wanting in the vivacity and depth of the old models. One would say that little care had been spent on the refining of the blue, and without the old perfection of material the K’ang Hsi style, with its broad washes of colour, was doomed to failure. Considerations of this sort may have led the painters to abandon the washes in favour of pencilling in fine lines, a method apparent on the armorial porcelain which can be dated to this period. Such a treatment of the blue was admirably suited to small objects. Indeed it was the usual style of decoration on the steatitic porcelain, of which many excellent examples belonging to this time are to be found among the snuff bottles, vermilion boxes, and the small, artistic furniture of the writing table. On large specimens the effect is thin and weak.