CH’IEN LUNG [chch 2] (1736–1795)
The brief reign of Yung Chêng was followed by that of his son, who
ruled under the title of Ch’ien Lung for a full cycle of sixty years,
at the end of which he abdicated in accordance with his vow that he
would not outreign his grandfather, K’ang Hsi. Ch’ien Lung was a
devotee of the arts, and they flourished greatly under his long and
peaceful sway. He was himself a collector, and the catalogue of the
Imperial bronzes compiled under his orders is a classic work; but more
than that, he was personally skilful in the art of calligraphy, which
ranks in China as high as painting; and he was a voluminous poet. It
is no uncommon thing to find his compositions engraved or painted on
porcelain and other artistic materials. Bushell[429] quotes an example
from a snuff bottle in the Walters Collection; there is a bowl for
washing wine cups in the Eumorfopoulos Collection with a descriptive
verse engraved underneath, and entitled, “Imperial Poem of Ch’ien
Lung”; and a beautiful coral red bowl in the British Museum has a
similar effusion pencilled in gold in the interior.
His interest in the ceramic art is further proved by the command given
in 1743 to T’ang Ying to compose a description of the various processes
of manufacture as a commentary on twenty pictures of the industry which
belonged to the palace collections; and one of the earliest acts of his
reign was to appoint the same celebrated ceramist in 1736 to succeed
Nien Hsi-yao in the control of the customs at Huai-an Fu, a post which
involved the supreme control of the Imperial porcelain manufacture.
There is little doubt that T’ang Ying[430] was the most distinguished
of all the men who held this post. He is, at any rate, the one whose
achievements have been most fully recorded. He was himself a prolific
writer, and a volume of his collected works has been published with a
preface by Li Chü-lai. His autobiography is incorporated in the _Chiang
hsi t’ung chih_; his twenty descriptions of the processes of porcelain
manufacture are quoted in the _T’ao shuo_ and the _T’ao lu_, and in
themselves form a valuable treatise on Chinese porcelain; and before
taking up his post at Huai-an Fu in 1736 he collected together, for
the benefit of his successors at Ching-tê Chên, the accumulated notes
and memoranda of eight years. This last work is known as the _T’ao
ch’êng shih yu kao_ (“Draughts of Instructions on the Manufacture of
Porcelain”), and the preface[431] quoted in the Annals of Fou-liang
furnishes some interesting details concerning Tang’s labours. We learn,
for instance, that when he was appointed to the factory at Ching-tê
Chên in 1728, he was “unacquainted with the finer details of the
porcelain manufacture in the province of Kiangsi,” having never been
there before. He worked with heart and strength, however, sleeping and
eating with the workmen during a voluntary apprenticeship of three
years, until in 1731 “he had conquered his ignorance of the materials
and processes of firing, and although he could not claim familiarity
with all the laws of transformation, his knowledge was much increased.”
The commissionership of the customs was transferred in 1739 from
Huai-an Fu to Kiu-kiang, which is close to the point of junction
between the Po-yang Lake and the Yangtze, and considerably nearer to
the Imperial factory at Ching-tê Chên, the control of which remained in
T’ang’s hands until 1749.
The _Ching-tê Chên T’ao lu_[432] is almost verbose on the subject of
T’ang’s achievements. He had a profound knowledge, it tells us, of
the properties of the different kinds of clay and of the action of
the fire upon them, and he took every care in the selection of proper
materials, so that his wares were all exquisite, lustrous, and of
perfect purity. In imitating the celebrated wares of antiquity he never
failed to make an exact copy, and in the imitation of all sorts of
famous glazes there were none which he could not cleverly reproduce.
There was, in fact, nothing that he could not successfully accomplish.
Furthermore, his novelties[433] included porcelains with the following
glazes and colours: foreign purple (_yang tzŭ_), cloisonné blue (_fa
ch’ing_), silvering (_mo yin_), painting in ink black (_ts’ai shui
mo_), foreign black (_yang wu chin_), painting in the style of the
enamels on copper (_fa lang_), foreign colouring in a black ground
(_yang ts’ai wu chin_), white designs in a black ground (_hei ti pai
hua_), gilding on a black ground (_hei ti miao chin_), sky blue (_t’ien
lan_), and transmutation glazes (_yao pien_). The clay used was white,
rich (_jang_) and refined, and the body of the porcelain, whether thick
or thin, was always unctuous (_ni_). The Imperial wares attained their
greatest perfection at this time.
The preface to T’ang’s collected works, which is quoted in the same
passage, singles out as special triumphs of his genius the revival of
the manufacture of the old dragon fish bowls (_lung kang_) and of the
Chün yao, and the production of the turquoise and rose (_mei kuei_)
colours in “new tints and rare beauty.” It is obvious from these
passages that T’ang was responsible for many of the types enumerated
in Hsieh Min’s list in the preceding chapter, not only among the
reproductions of antiques but among the new inventions of the period,
such as the cloisonné blue, foreign purple, silvering, painting in ink
black, and foreign black. It follows, then, that these novelties could
not have been made much before 1730, for T’ang was still at that time
occupied chiefly with learning the potter’s art. It is equally certain
that he continued to make a specialty of imitating the older wares
during the reign of Ch’ien Lung, so that we may regard the best period
of these reproductions as extending from 1730–1750.
In reading the list of T’ang’s innovations the reader will perhaps be
puzzled by the varieties of black decoration which are included. Before
attempting to explain them it will be best to review the different
kinds of black found on Chinese porcelain of the Ch’ing dynasty. There
is the high-fired black glaze, with hard shining surface likened to
that of a mirror and usually enriched with gilt traceries. This is the
original _wu chin_ described by Père d’Entrecolles.[434] The other
blacks are all low-fired colours of the muffle kiln applied over the
glaze and ranking with the enamel colours. They include at least five
varieties: (1) The dry black pigment, derived from cobaltiferous ore
of manganese, applied like the iron red without any glassy flux. (2)
The same pigment washed over with a transparent green enamel. This is
the iridescent greenish black of the _famille verte_, and it continued
in use along with the _famille rose_ colours in the Yung Chêng and
Ch’ien Lung periods and onwards to modern times. (3) A black enamel
in which the same elements--manganese black and copper green--are
compounded together. This is the modern _wu chin_, of which a sample
in the Sèvres Museum (from the collection of M. Itier) was described
by Julien[435] as “noir mat; minerai de manganese cobaltifère et oxyde
de cuivre avec céruse.” It appears on modern Chinese porcelain as a
sticky greenish black enamel, inferior in depth and softness to the
old composite black of the _famille verte_; but for all that, this
is the _yang wu chin_ (foreign black) of the Yung Chêng and Ch’ien
Lung periods. In the days of T’ang Ying it was a far superior colour.
(4) A mottled greenish black occurs as a monochrome and as a ground
colour with reserved discs enamelled with _famille rose_ colours on the
exterior of two bowls in the British Museum, both of which have the
cyclical date, _wu ch’ên_, under the base, indicating the year 1748 or
1808, probably the latter. (5) An enamel of similar texture but of a
purplish black colour is used on a snuff bottle in the same collection
to surround a figure design in underglaze blue. This piece has the Yung
Chêng mark in red, but from its general character appears to be of
later date.
In the list of T’ang’s innovations there is _yang wu chin_ (foreign
black), which is doubtless the same as the _hsi yang wu chin_ (European
black) of Hsieh Min’s list. It is clear that this is something
different from the old green black of the _famille verte_ porcelain,
and we can hardly be wrong in identifying it with the _wu chin_ enamel
described above in No. 3. Compared with the original mirror black _wu
chin_ glaze this enamel has a dull surface, and we can only infer that
the term _wu chin_ had already lost its special sense of metallic
black, and was now used merely as a general term for black.
Assuming this inference to be correct, the term yang _ts’ai wu chin_
(foreign painting in a black ground) should mean simply _famille rose_
colours surrounded by a black enamel ground of the type of either No.
2 or No. 3. It is, of course, possible that the _wu chin_ here is the
old mirror black glaze on which enamelling in _famille rose_ colours
would be perfectly feasible; but I do not know of any example, whereas
there is no lack of choice porcelains answering to the alternative
description.
The two remaining types, _hei ti pai hua_ (white decoration in a black
ground) and _hei ti miao chin_ (black ground gilt), apparently leave
the nature of the black undefined, but as the expressions appear
verbatim in the note attached to No. 52 of Hsieh Min’s list, which is
“reproductions of _wu chin_ glaze,” we must regard the black in this
case, too, as of the _wu chin_ type. The black ground with gilding can
hardly refer to anything but the well-known mirror black glaze with
gilt designs; and the white designs in black ground is equally clearly
identified with a somewhat rarer type of porcelain in which the pattern
is reserved in white in a ground of black enamel of the type of No.
3. There are two snuff bottles in the British Museum respectively
decorated with “rat and vine,” and figure subjects white with slight
black shading and reserved in a sticky black enamel ground. Both these
are of the Tao Kuang period, but there are earlier and larger examples
elsewhere with a black ground of finer quality. Such a decoration
is scarcely possible with anything but an enamel black, and though
there is some inconsistency in the grouping of an enamel and a glaze
together in Hsieh Min’s list, they were apparently both regarded as
“reproductions” of the old mirror black _wu chin_.
Out of the remaining innovations ascribed to T’ang’s directorate,
the _fa ch’ing_ (cloisonné or enamel blue) and the _fa long hua fa_
(painting in the style of the enamels on copper) have already been
described in connection with Hsieh Min’s list. The latter expression
occurs verbatim in the note attached in the Annals of Fou-liang[436]
to No. 49 of the list, which is “porcelain with foreign colouring,”
and it clearly refers to the free painting on the Canton enamels for
reasons already given.[437] It is true that _fa lang_ (like _fo lang_,
_fu lang_, and _fa lan_, all phrases suggestive of foreign and Western
origin) is commonly used in reference to cloisonné enamel, but the
idea of copying on porcelain “landscapes, figure subjects, flowering
plants, and birds” from cloisonné enamels is preposterous to anyone who
is familiar with the cramped and restricted nature of work bounded by
cloisons. It is a pity that Bushell has confused the issue by rendering
this particular passage “painting in the style of cloisonné enamel” in
his _Oriental Ceramic Art_.[438]
But, it will be objected, the painting in foreign colours has been
already shown to have been in full swing some years before T’ang’s
appointment at Ching-tê Chên. The inconsistency is only apparent,
however, for it is only claimed that T’ang introduced this style of
painting on the Imperial porcelain, and it may--and indeed must--have
been practised in the enamelling establishments at Canton and elsewhere
for some time before. Indeed, when one comes to consider the list of
T’ang innovations which we have discussed so far, they are mainly
concerned with the adaptation of various foreign colours and of
processes already in use in the previous reign.
Of those which remain, the _t’ien lan_ or sky blue may perhaps be
identified with a light blue verging on the tint of turquoise, a
high-fired glaze found occasionally in the Ch’ien Lung monochromes.
But probably the greatest of T’ang’s achievements was the mastery of
the _yao pien_ or furnace transmutation glazes, which were a matter
of chance as late as the end of the K’ang Hsi period. These are the
variegated or _flambé_ glazes in which a deep red of _sang de bœuf_
tint is transformed into a mass of streaks and mottlings in which blue,
grey, crimson, brown and green seem to be struggling together for
pre-eminence. All these tints spring from one colouring agent--copper
oxide--and they are called into being by a sudden change of the
atmosphere of the kiln, caused by the admission of wood smoke at the
critical moment and the consequent consumption of the oxygen. Without
the transformation the glaze would be a _sang de bœuf_ red, and in
many cases the change is only partial, and large areas of the deep red
remain. Fig. 1 of Plate 123 illustrates a small but characteristic
specimen of the Ch’ien Lung _flambé_. It will be found that in
contrast with the K’ang Hsi _sang de bœuf_ these later glazes are
more fluescent, and the excess of glaze overrunning the base has been
removed by grinding.
[Illustration: Plate 122.--White Porcelain with designs in low
relief.
Fig. 1.--Vase, peony scroll, _ju-i_ border, etc. Ch’ien Lung
period. Height 7 inches. _O. Raphael Collection._
Fig. 2.--Bottle with “garlic mouth,” Imperial dragons in clouds.
Creamy crackled glaze imitating Ting ware. Early eighteenth
century. Height 9½ inches. _Salting Collection._
Fig. 3.--Vase with design of three rams, symbolising
Spring. Ch’ien Lung period. Height 3½ inches. _W. Burton
Collection._]
Another development of the _yao pien_ at this time is the use of a
separate “transmutation” glaze which could be added in large or small
patches over another glaze, and which assumed, when fired, the usual
_flambé_ appearance. When judiciously applied the effect of this
superadded _flambé_ was very effective, but it is often used in a
capricious fashion, with results rather curious than beautiful. There
are, for instance, examples of blue and white vases being wholly or
partially coated with _flambé_, which have little interest except as
evidence that the potters could now produce the variegated effect at
will and in more ways than one.
The use of double glazes to produce new and curious effects is
characteristic of the period. The second glaze was applied in various
ways by blowing, flecking, or painting it over the first. The Chün
glaze of the muffle kiln belongs to this type if it has, as I think,
been correctly identified with the blue green dappled with crimson on
Fig. 4 of Plate 128; and the bird’s egg glazes mentioned on p. 217
belong to the same class.[439] Others of a similar appearance, though
not necessarily of the same technique, are the tea dust (_ch’a yeh
mo_) and iron rust (_t’ieh hsiu_).
The tea dust glaze has a scum of dull tea green specks over an ochreous
brown or bronze green glaze, applied either to the biscuit or over an
ordinary white glazed porcelain; and it seems to have been a speciality
of the Ch’ien Lung period, though there are known specimens with the
Yung Chêng mark and many fine examples were made in later reigns. But
neither this glaze nor double glazes in general are inventions of
this time. It would be more correct to speak of them as revivals, for
the early Japanese tea jars, which are based on Chinese originals,
illustrate the principle of the double glaze, and there are specimens
of stoneware as old as the Sung if not the T’ang dynasty, with dark
olive glaze flecked with tea green, and scarcely distinguishable
from the Ch’ien Lung tea dust. It is stated on the authority of M.
Billequin (see Bushell, _O. C. A._, p. 518) that a “sumptuary law
was made restricting the use of the tea dust glaze to the Emperor, to
evade which collectors used to paint their specimens with imaginary
cracks,[440] and even to put in actual rivets to make them appear
broken.”
The iron rust is a dark lustrous brown glaze strewn with metallic
specks (due to excess of iron), and in the best examples clouded
with passages of deep red. But these are only two examples of skill
displayed by the Ch’ien Lung potters in imitating artistic effects in
other materials. Special success was attained in reproducing the many
tints of old bronze and its metallic surface. Bright-coloured patina
was suggested by touches of _flambé_, and the effects of gilding
or gold and silver inlay were rendered by the gilder’s brush. The
appearance of inlaid enamels was skilfully copied. “In fact,” to quote
from the _T’ao shuo_,[441] “among all the works of art in carved
gold, embossed silver, chiselled stone, lacquer, mother-of-pearl,
bamboo and wood, gourd and shell, there is not one that is not now[442]
produced in porcelain, a perfect copy of the original piece.” Nor is
this statement much exaggerated, for I have seen numerous examples in
which grained wood, red lacquer, green jade, bronze, and even _mille
fiori_ glass have been so closely copied that their real nature was
not detected without close inspection.
Reverting to T’ang’s achievements, we find special mention made of
the reproductions of Chün yao which have been already discussed in
detail,[443] and of the revived manufacture of the large dragon fish
bowls. The latter are the great bowls which caused such distress
among the potters in the Wan Li period. They are described in the
_T’ao lu_[444] as being fired in specially constructed kilns, and
requiring no less than nineteen days to complete their baking. The
largest size is said to have measured 6 ft.[445] in height, with a
thickness of 5 in. in the wall, one of them occupying an entire kiln.
The old Ming dragon bowl found by T’ang Ying[446] at the factory was
one of the smaller sizes, and measured 3 ft. in diameter and 2 ft. in
height. They were intended for the palace gardens for keeping gold-fish
or growing water-lilies, and the usual decoration consisted of Imperial
dragons. They are variously described as _lung kang_ (dragon
bowls), _yü kang_ (fish bowls), and _ta kang_ (great bowls).
[Illustration: PLATE 123
Eighteenth Century Glazes
Fig. 1.--Square Vase with tubular handles, and apricot-shaped
medallions on front and back. _Flambé_ red glaze. Ch’ien
Lung period (1736–1795). Height 6¾ inches.
_British Museum._
Fig. 2.--Bottle-shaped Vase with deep blue (_ta ch’ing_)
glaze: unglazed base. Early eighteenth century. Height 15¾ inches.
_British Museum._
Fig. 3.--Vase with fine iron red enamel (_mo hung_) on the
exterior. Ch’ien Lung period (1736–1795). Height 5 inches.
_Salting Collection (V. & A. Museum)._]
Owing to the tremendous difficulty of firing these huge vessels the
order for their supply in the reign of Shun Chih was eventually
cancelled, and no attempt was made to resume their manufacture until
T’ang’s directorate. The usual fish bowl of the K’ang Hsi period is
a much smaller object, measuring about 20 in. (English) in diameter
by 1 ft. in height; but from the note appended to Hsieh Min’s list
in the _Chiang hsi t’ung chih_ on the Imperial _ta kang_, it appears
that already (about 1730) the manufacture had been resumed on the old
scale,[447] for the dimensions of those described are given as from 3
ft. 4 or 5 in. to 4 ft. in diameter at the mouth, and from 1 ft. 7 or
8 in. to 2 ft. in height. An example of intermediate size is given on
Plate 133, one of a pair in the Burdett-Coutts Collection measuring 26½
in. in diameter by 20 in. in height.
It remains to notice two glaze colours to which T’ang Ying appears
to have paid special attention: the _fei ts’ui_ (turquoise) and the
_mei kuei_ (rose colour). The former has already been dealt with in
connection with Ming, K’ang Hsi, and Yung Chêng porcelain, and it is
only necessary to add that it occurs in singularly beautiful quality
on the Ch’ien Lung porcelains, often on vases of antique bronze form,
but fashioned with the unmistakable “slickness” of the Ch’ien Lung
imitations. Occasionally this glaze covers a body of reddish colour
due to admixture of some coarser clay, which seems to have assisted
the development of the colour, and it is worthy of note that there
are modern imitations on an earthen body made at the tile works near
Peking which, thanks to the fine quality of their colour, are liable
to be passed off as old. I have noticed that Ch’ien Lung monochrome
vases--especially those which have colours of the _demi-grand feu_ like
the turquoise--are often unglazed under the base. The foot is very
deeply cut, and the biscuit is bare or skinned over with a mere film of
vitreous matter, which seems to be an accidental deposit.
The _mei kuei_ is the colour of the red rose (_mei kuei hua_), and
it is obviously to be identified with the rose carmines derived from
gold which were discussed in the last chapter. These tints are found
in considerable variety in the early Ch’ien Lung porcelains, from
deep crimson and scarlet or rouge red to pale pink, and they are used
as monochromes, ground colours, and in painted decoration. A superb
example of their use as ground colour was illustrated on the border
of Plate 120, which is probably a Yung Chêng piece. Among the gold red
monochromes of the the Ch’ien Lung period one of the most striking is a
dark ruby pink with uneven surface of the “orange peel” type. Mr. S. E.
Kennedy has a remarkable series of these monochromes in his collection.
Speaking generally, the Ch’ien Lung monochromes repeat the types in
vogue in the previous reigns of the dynasty with greater or less
success. Among the greens, the opaque, crackled glazes of pea, apple,
sage, emerald, and camellia leaf tints described on p. 187 were a
speciality of the time, and the snake-skin and cucumber tints were
also made with success. There were, besides, beautiful celadon glazes
of the _grand feu_, and an opaque enamel of pale bluish green _eau de
nil_ tint. Underglaze copper red was used both for monochromes and
painted wares, but with the exception of the liver or maroon colour
the former had not the distinction of the K’ang Hsi _sang de bœuf_ or
the Yung Chêng _soufflé_ red. There is a jug-shaped ewer with pointed
spout in the British Museum which has a fluescent glaze of light liver
red deepening into crimson, and known in Japan as _toko_. It has the
Hsüan Tê mark, but I have seen exactly similar specimens with the mark
of Ch’ien Lung, to which period this colour evidently belongs. On the
other hand, great improvement is observable in the overglaze coral red
monochrome derived from iron, whether it be the thin lustrous film of
the _mo hung_ or the richly fluxed “jujube” red which attains the depth
and fullness of glaze. Fig. 3, Plate 123, is a worthy example of the
iron red monochrome of the period. As a thick, even and opaque colour
this enamel was used in small pieces which wonderfully simulate the
appearance of red cinnabar lacquer.
An endless variety of blue glazes were used, the pure blue in dark and
light shades, _soufflé_ or plain, the purplish blues and violets, the
lavenders and _clair de lunes_. These are mainly high-fired glazes,
but a favourite blue of this period is a deep purplish blue of soft,
fluescent appearance and minutely crackled texture which is evidently a
glaze of the _demi-grand feu_. The “temple of heaven” blue is of this
nature, though of a purer and more sapphire tint. It is the colour of
the ritual vessels used in the worship of heaven and of the tiles with
which the temple was roofed. Another variety of this glaze has the
same tint, but is harder and of a bubbly, pinholed texture, apparently
a high-fired colour. The _t’ien ch’ing_ (sky blue) has already been
mentioned--a lighter colour between lavender and turquoise. And among
the blue enamels which were sometimes used as monochromes at this time
is an opaque deep blue of intense lapis lazuli tone.
Among the yellows, in addition to the transparent glazes of the older
type, there are opaque enamels, including the lemon yellow with rough
granular texture, the waxen[448] sulphur yellow which often displays
lustrous patches, and the crackled mustard yellow.
Among the purples and browns there are few changes to note, though much
of the greenish brown crackle probably belongs to this time; and there
is little to be said about the white wares except that both the true
porcelain, whether eggshell or otherwise, and the opaque crackled wares
of the Ting yao type were still made with exquisite refinement and
finish. The uneven glaze surface, happily compared to “orange peel,”
was much affected on the Ch’ien Lung whites in common with many other
wares of the time. But there were many new enamel monochromes formed by
blending the _famille rose_ colours, shades of opaque pink, lavender,
French grey, and green, which are sometimes delicately engraved with
close scroll patterns all over the surface, a type which is known
by the clumsy name of _graviata_. These enamel grounds are often
interrupted by medallions with underglaze blue or enamelled designs,
as on the vase illustrated in Plate 125, Fig. 4, and on the so-called
Peking bowls; or, again, they are broken by reserved floral designs
which are daintily coloured in _famille rose_ enamels. But we are
already drifting from the monochromes into the painted porcelains of
the period, and we shall return to the Peking bowls presently.
With regard to the Ch’ien Lung blue and white, little need be added
to what was said of this kind of ware in the last chapter. It was
still made in considerable quantity, and T’ang Ying, in his twenty
descriptions of the manufacture of porcelain, supplies a commentary to
three pictures[449] dealing with the “collection of the blue material,”
“the selection of the mineral,” and “the painting of the round ware
in blue.” From these we learn that large services were made in blue
and white, and the decoration was still rigidly subdivided, one set
of painters being reserved for the outlining of the designs and
another for filling them in, while the plain blue rings were put on
by the workman who finished the ware on the polishing wheel, and the
inscriptions, marks and seals were added by skilful calligraphers. The
blue material was now obtained in the province of Chêkiang, and close
attention was paid to the selection of the best mineral. There was one
kind of blue “called onion sprouts, which makes very clearly defined
strokes, and does not run in the fire, and this must be used for the
most delicate pieces.” This latter colour is to be looked for on the
small steatitic porcelains and the fine eggshell cups.
In common with the other Ch’ien Lung types, the blue and white vases
are often of archaic bronze form, and decorated with bronze patterns
such as borders of stiff leaves, dragon feet and ogre heads. Another
favourite ornament is a close pattern of floral scrolls studded with
lotus or peony flowers, often finely drawn but inclined to be small
and fussy. These scrolls are commonly executed in the blotchy blue
described on p. 13, and the darker shades are often thickly heaped up
in palpable relief with a marked tendency to run into drops. On the
other hand, one sometimes finds the individual brush strokes, as it
were, bitten into the porcelain body, and almost suggesting scratched
lines. Both peculiarities, the thick fluescent blue and the deep brush
strokes, are observable on a small vase of unusually glassy porcelain
in the Franks Collection. Two other pieces in the same collection may
be quoted. One is a tazza or high-footed bowl with a band of Sanskrit
characters and deep borders of close lotus scrolls, very delicately
drawn in a soft pure blue, to which a heavily bubbled glaze has given a
hazy appearance. This piece (Plate 93, Fig. 1) has the six characters
of the Ch’ien Lung seal-mark in a single line inside the foot. The
other is a jar which bears the cyclical date corresponding to 1784.
Like the last, it has a decoration of Buddhistic import, viz. the four
characters [chch 4] _t’ien chu ên po_ (propitious waves from India),
each enclosed by formal cloud devices. It is painted in a soft but
rather opaque blue, and the glaze is again of bubbly texture.
[Illustration: Plate 124.--Miscellaneous Porcelain.
Fig. 1.--Magnolia Vase with _flambé_ glaze of crackled
lavender with red and blue streaks. Ch’ien Lung period. Height 7
inches. _Alexander Collection._
Fig. 2.--Bottle with elephant handles, yellow, purple, green
and white glazes on the biscuit. Ch’ien Lung period. Height 8¼
inches. _British Museum._
Fig. 3.--Dish with fruit design in lustrous transparent glazes on
the biscuit, covering a faintly etched dragon pattern. K’ang Hsi
mark. Diameter 9⅞ inches. _British Museum._]
[Illustration: Plate 125.--Ch’ien Lung Wares. _Hippisley
Collection._
Fig. 1.--Brush Pot of enamelled Ku-yüeh-hsüan glass. Ch’ien Lung
mark. Height 2⅜ inches.
Fig. 2.--Bottle, porcelain painted in Ku-yüeh style, after a
picture by the Ch’ing artist Wang Shih-mei. Height 7 inches.
Fig. 3.--Imperial Presentation Cup marked _hsü hua t’ang chih
tsêng_. Height 2 inches.
Fig. 4.--Medallion Vase, brocade ground with bats in clouds, etc.
Ch’ien Lung mark. Height 7¼ inches.]
[Illustration: Plate 126.--Vase with “Hundred Flower” design in
_famille rose_ enamels.
Ch’ien Lung period (1736–1795). Height 19¼ inches. _Grandidier
Collection_ (_The Louvre_).]
[Illustration: Plate 127.--Vase painted in mixed enamels. The
Hundred Deer. _Grandidier Collection_ (_Louvre_).
Late Ch’ien Lung period. Height 18 inches.]
In the commoner types of Ch’ien Lung blue and white, the blue is
usually of a dullish indigo tint, wanting in life and fire. There is,
in fact, none of the character of the K’ang Hsi ware; the broad washes,
the clear trembling sapphire, and the subtle harmony existing between
the glaze and blue, are all missing. Moreover, the decoration, with its
careful brushwork and neat finish, has none of the freedom and
breadth of the older types. On the whole, it is small wonder that the
collector finds little to arouse enthusiasm in the blue and white of
this period, if we except the steatitic[450] or “soft pastes,” which
are eagerly acquired.
Underglaze red painting, and the same in combination with blue or with
high-fired glazes and coloured slips, celadon, white, golden brown,
olive brown and coffee brown, were perpetuated from the previous
reigns; and underglaze blue designs are found accompanied by yellow
or coral red enamel grounds in old Ming style, and even by _famille
rose_ painting.
Decoration in transparent glazes of three colours--green, yellow and
aubergine--applied direct to the biscuit is not common on Ch’ien Lung
porcelain, but when used it displays the characteristic neatness and
finish of the period. I suspect that many of the trim rice bowls with
neatly everted mouth rim and dragon designs etched in outline and
filled in with aubergine in a green ground, yellow in an aubergine,
or the other combinations of the three colours, belong to this reign,
in spite of the K’ang Hsi mark under the base. At any rate, the body,
glaze and form can be exactly paralleled in other bowls which have a
Ch’ien Lung mark.
This criticism applies equally to a striking group of porcelain of
which Fig. 3 of Plate 124 is an example. It consists of bowls and
dishes, so much alike in decoration that one might suppose all existing
examples to be parts of some large service. The body is delicately
engraved with five-clawed dragons pursuing pearls, and somewhat
inconsequently over these are painted large and boldly designed
flowering sprays (rose, peony, etc.) or fruiting pomegranate branches
with black outlines filled in with fine, transparent aubergine, full
yellow and green in light and dark shades. The remaining ground space
is coated with the thin greenish wash which does duty for white in
this colour scheme, but in these particular pieces it is unusually
lustrous and iridescent. In fact, on the back of a dish in the British
Museum it has developed patches of golden lustre of quite a metallic
appearance and similar to those noted on the sulphur yellow monochrome
described on p. 239. This lustrous appearance, however, is probably no
more than an exaggerated iridescence, for there is no reason to suppose
that the Chinese ever used metallic lustre of the Persian or European
kind.[451] This group of porcelain always bears the K’ang Hsi mark, but
a comparison with the bowls of later date, both in material and in the
general finish of the ware and the style of the colouring, irresistibly
argues a later period of manufacture, unless, indeed, we admit that the
Imperial bowls of the late K’ang Hsi and the Ch’ien Lung periods are
not to be differentiated. The finish of these wares, in fact, compares
more closely with that of the finer Tao Kuang bowls than with the
recognised types of K’ang Hsi porcelain.
Another kind of on-biscuit decoration of the Ch’ien Lung--and perhaps
the Yung Chêng--period is best described from a concrete example, viz.,
Fig. 2 of Plate 124, a pear-shaped bottle in the British Museum with
sides moulded in shallow lobes, an overlapping frill or collar with
scalloped outline on the neck, and above this two handles in shape of
elephants’ heads. The ground colour is a deep brownish yellow relieved
by borders of stiff leaves with incised outline filled in with smooth
emerald green; and the collar and handles are white with cloud scroll
borders of pale aubergine edged with blue. The general colouring, as
well as the form of this vase, is closely paralleled in fine pottery of
the same period.
It may be added that _famille rose_ enamels are sometimes used
in on-biscuit polychrome decoration, but the effect is not specially
pleasing. Some of the opaque colours serving as monochromes are also
applied in this way, but here the absence of a white glaze beneath is
scarcely noticeable, owing to the thickness and opacity of the enamels.
* * * * *
But all the other forms of polychrome decoration at this period must
yield (numerically, at any rate) to the on-glaze painting in _famille
rose_ enamels, or, as the Chinese have named them, “foreign
colours.” The nature of these has been fully discussed, but there is
no doubt that their application was widely extended in the Ch’ien Lung
period, and one point of difference, at least, is observable in their
technique, viz. the mixing of the tints in the actual design so as to
produce the European effect of shading. By this means the graded tints
in the petals of a flower, and the stratified surface of rocks and
mountains, are suggestively rendered.
It would be impossible to enumerate the endless varieties of design
employed in this large group. Contrasting the decoration of his own
time with that of the Ming porcelain, the author of the _T’ao
shuo_,[452] which was published in 1774, says: “Porcelain painted
in colours excelled in the Ming dynasty, the majority of the patterns
being derived from embroidery and brocaded satins, three or four only
out of each ten being from nature and copies of antiques. In modern
porcelain, out of ten designs you will get four of foreign colouring,
three taken from nature, two copies of antiques, one from embroidery or
satin brocade.”
In their ordinary acceptation the terms are not mutually exclusive, and
the last three types might be, and indeed are, all expressed in foreign
colouring; but presumably the writer refers especially to that kind of
“foreign colouring” which was directly based on the Canton enamels and
is illustrated in the ruby-back eggshell dishes.
The designs taken from nature would include figure subjects
representing personages and interiors, landscapes, growing flowers and
fruit, and the like, good examples of which are shown on Plates 126 and
127. The one represents the “Hundred Flowers,” the vase being, as it
were, one great bouquet and the flowers being drawn naturalistically
enough to be individually recognised. The other recalls the
celebrated picture of the “Hundred Deer” by the late Ming artist, Wên
Chêng-ming.[453]
The copies of antiques would comprise bronze patterns and designs
borrowed from old porcelain, examples of which are not uncommon. And
the brocade patterns, in spite of the low proportion assigned to them
in the _T’ao shuo_, occur in relatively large numbers in Western
collections. They mostly consist of flowers or close floral scrolls
in colour, and reserved in a monochrome ground of yellow, blue, pink,
etc. This is the characteristic Ch’ien Lung scroll work which is used
both in borders and over large areas such as the exterior of a bowl
or the body of a vase. The reserved pattern, highly coloured and
winding through a ground of solid opaque enamel, suggests analogy with
the scroll grounds of the contemporary cloisonné enamel; but this
incidental likeness has nothing to do with the question of “painting in
_fa lang_ style,” which was discussed among T’ang’s innovations.
The finer Ch’ien Lung porcelains, and especially those enamelled with
brocade designs, are frequently finished off with a coating of opaque
bluish green enamel inside the mouth and under the base, a square panel
being reserved for the mark. Needless to say, with all this weight of
enamelling little or nothing is seen of the porcelain itself, the fine
quality of which is only indicated by the neatness of the form and the
elegance of the finish.
The green black which was discussed earlier in the chapter is used with
striking effect, both in company with _famille rose_ colours (as
on Fig. 2 of Plate 131) and without them. An effective decoration of
the latter kind is shown on a beautiful bottle-shaped vase with wide,
spreading mouth in the Salting Collection, which is covered with close
floral scrolls reserved in a ground of black pigment, the whole surface
being washed over with transparent green. The result is a peculiarly
soft and rich decoration of green scrolls in a green black ground.
Nor was the iron red--a colour much employed in monochromes at this
time--neglected in the painted wares. Indeed, it occurs as the sole
pigment on many pieces, and on others it forms a solid brick red or
stippled _soufflé_ ground for floral reserves, medallions and panels of
_famille rose_ enamelling.
Among the opaque enamels a few shades of blue are similarly used, while
the others, as already mentioned, form plain or engraved backgrounds
for floral reserves and panel decoration as on Fig. 2 of Plate 125,
and on the Peking bowls. The latter are so named not because they
were made at Peking, but because the specimens acquired by Western
collectors have been chiefly obtained from that source. Many of them
have the Ch’ien Lung mark, and their ground colours comprise a variety
of pinks, yellow, green, French grey, dark blue, slaty blue, amaranth,
lavender, bluish green,[454] delicate greenish white and coral red.
The medallions on the bowls--usually four in number--are commonly
decorated with growing flowers, such as the flowers of the four seasons
in polychrome enamels, while others have figure subjects, frequently
European figures in landscape setting and with Chinese attributes,
such as a _ju-i_ or _ling-chih_ fungus. The finish of these bowls is
extremely fine, and they are well worthy of the Imperial use to which
they were mostly destined.
The mention of a delicate greenish white enamel on these medallion
bowls reminds us that this colour is used with exquisite effect for
borders of floral design, or even for the main decoration of tea
and coffee wares; and there is a little plate in the British Museum
with Ch’ien Lung mark on which it appears with a peculiar chilled or
shrivelled surface as a background for painted designs in iron red.
There is a large class of enamelled porcelain, doubtless made chiefly
for export, which found its way into our country houses in the last
half of the eighteenth century. It is painted with panels of figure
subjects in which rose pink and iron red are uncompromisingly blended,
and the space surrounding the panels is filled with composite designs
of blue and white with passages of pink scale diaper or feathery
gilt scrolls broken by small vignettes in which a bird on a bough,
insects, growing plants or fragments of landscape are painted in
_camaieu_ pink, red or sepia. In some cases the panels are framed
with low, moulded reliefs, which extend into the border spaces, and the
groundwork in these parts is powdered with tiny raised dots. The wares
include large punch bowls, bottle-shaped ewers with their basins, and
sets of five vases, two of which are beakers and three covered jars
with lion knobs, ovoid or square, and sometimes of eggshell thinness.
Others again have their panels enclosed by wreaths of flowers and
foliage or “rat and vine pattern” in full relief, and many of them
have a glaze of lumpy, “orange peel” texture. The name “Mandarin” has
been given to these wares because the central figure subjects usually
contain personages in official dress; and the large punch bowls
brought back by the tea-merchants are included in this group, though
the mandarin figures in the panels are in this case often replaced by
European subjects.
Elaborately moulded and pierced ornament coloured in _famille
rose_ enamels often appears on the table ware of this period, a
familiar example being the lotus services in which the motive of
the pink lotus flower is expressed partly by moulding and partly by
painting, the tendrils and buds being utilised for feet and handles;
and there are elegant _famille rose_ teapots which have outer
casings with panels of prunus, bamboo and pine carved in openwork in
the style of the Yi-hsing pottery.
Gilding was, of course, freely employed, and, to a lesser extent,
silvering. Elaborate gilt patterns are found covering dark blue,
powder blue, lustrous black, bronze green, pale celadon, and iron red
monochrome grounds; and the finer enamelled vases and bowls are often
finished off with gilt edging, which does not seem to have been much
used before this period, though traces of gilding are sometimes seen on
the lustrous brown edges of the older plates and bowls.
The manual dexterity of the Ch’ien Lung potters is shown in openwork
carving and pierced designs on lanterns, perfume boxes, insect cages,
spill vases, etc., but more especially on the amazing vases with
free-working belts, revolving necks, or decorated inner linings which
can be turned round behind a pierced outer casing, chains with movable
links, and similar _tours de force_.
There are, beside, two types of ornament dating from this period which
demand no little manual skill. These are the lacework and rice grain.
In the former the design is deeply incised in the body and the whole
covered with a pale celadon green glaze, and it is usually applied to
small vases and tazza-shaped cups, the pattern consisting of close and
intricate Ch’ien Lung scrollwork. The resultant effect is of a very
delicate green lace pattern, which appears as a partial transparency
when held to the light (Plate 128, Fig. 2). The rice-grain ornament
carries the same idea a step farther, for the incised pattern is cut
right through the body, leaving small perforations to be filled up by
the transparent glaze. Only small incisions could be made, and these
generally took the lenticular form which the French have likened to
grains of rice (Plate 128, Fig. 1). The patterns made in this fashion
are naturally limited. Star-shaped designs or flowers with radiating
petals are the commonest, though occasionally the transparencies are
made to conform to the lines of painted decoration and even of dragon
patterns.
Both ordinary and steatitic porcelain are used for this treatment; and
the ware is either plain white or embellished with underglaze blue
borders and designs, and occasionally with enamels. The effect is light
and graceful, especially when transmitted light gives proper play to
the transparencies.
As to the antiquity of this decoration in China, I can find no evidence
of its existence before the eighteenth century, and I am inclined to
think it was even then a late development. There are two cups in the
Hippisley Collection with apocryphal Hsüan Tê dates, but the majority
of marked examples are Ch’ien Lung or later. Out of fourteen pieces in
the Franks Collection five have the Ch’ien Lung mark, two have palace
marks of the Tao Kuang period,[455] and one has a long inscription
stating that it was made by Wang Shêng-Kao in the fourth month of
1798.[456] The rest are unmarked. The manufacture continues to the
present day, and the same process has been freely used in Japan, where
it is called _hotaru-de_, or firefly decoration. In this type of
ornament the Chinese were long forestalled by the potters of Western
Asia, for the rice-grain transparencies were used with exquisite effect
in Persia and Syria in the twelfth century if not considerably earlier.
It remains to mention a species of decoration which is not strictly
ceramic. It consists of coating the porcelain biscuit with black
lacquer in which are inlaid designs in mother-of-pearl, the _lac
burgauté_ of the French (Plate 128, Fig. 3). This porcelain is known
by the French name of _porcelaine laquée burgautée_, and it seems
to have been originally a product of the Ch’ien Lung period; at any
rate, I can find no evidence of its existence before the eighteenth
century.
In the Ch’ien Lung period Chinese porcelain reaches the high-water
mark of technical perfection. The mastery of the material is complete.
But for all that the art is already in its decline. By the middle of
the reign it is already overripe, and towards the end it shows sure
signs of decay. At its best the decoration is more ingenious than
original, and more pretty than artistic. At its worst it is cloying
and tiresome. The ware itself is perfectly refined and pure, but
colder than the K’ang Hsi porcelain. The _famille rose_ painting
is unequalled at its best for daintiness and finish, but the broken
tints and miniature touches cannot compare in decorative value with the
stronger and broader effects of the Ming and K’ang Hsi brushwork. The
potting is almost perfect, but the forms are wanting in spontaneity;
and the endless imitation of bronze shapes becomes wearisome, partly
because the intricate forms of cast metal are not naturally suited to
the ceramic material, and partly because the elaborate finish of the
Ch’ien Lung wares makes the imitation of the antique unconvincing. In
detail the wares are marvels of neatness and finish, but the general
impression is of an artificial elegance from which the eye gladly
turns to the vigorous beauty of the earlier and less sophisticated
types.
[Illustration: Plate 128.--Ch’ien Lung Porcelain. _British
Museum._
Fig. 1.--Vase with “rice grain” ground and blue and white design.
Height 7¾ inches.
Fig. 2.--Vase with “lacework” designs. Ch’ien Lung mark. Height
7¾ inches.
Fig. 3.--Vase with the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove in
_lac burgauté_. Height 14½ inches.
Fig. 4.--Vase with “robin’s egg” glaze. Height 4⅛ inches.]
[Illustration: Plate 129.--Octagonal Vase and Cover, painted in
_famille rose_ enamels. Ch’ien Lung period (1736–1795).
Height 35 inches. _One of a pair in the Collection of Dr. A. E.
Cumberbatch._]
As already mentioned, T’ang Ying was commanded by the Emperor in 1743
to arrange and explain twenty pictures of the manufacture of porcelain
which were sent to him from the palace. In twelve days he completed
the descriptions which have since been incorporated in various books
on porcelain, including the _T’ao shuo_ and the _T’ao lu_.
They have been translated by Julien[457] and by Bushell,[458] and
as most of their facts have been embodied in the previous pages, it
would be superfluous to give a verbatim translation of them. The
following summary, however, will give the drift of them, and Bushell’s
translation of the _T’ao shuo_ can be consulted for a full
rendering.
_Illustration_
I.--COLLECTION OF THE STONES AND FABRICATION OF THE PASTE.
The porcelain stone (_petuntse_) was obtained at this
time from _Ch’i-mên_, in the province of Kiangnan.
“That of pure colour and fine texture is used in the
manufacture of bowls and vases of eggshell (_t’o-t’ai_),
pure white (_t’ien pai_), and blue and white porcelain.”
Other earths, including _kaolin_, were mined within the
limits of Jao-chou Fu.
II.--WASHING AND PURIFICATION OF THE PASTE.
III.--BURNING THE ASHES AND PREPARING THE GLAZE.
The ashes of burnt lime and ferns were mixed with
_petuntse_ in varying proportions to form the glazing
material.
IV.--MANUFACTURE OF SEGGARS.
The seggars, or fireclay cases, by which the porcelain
was protected in the kiln were made of a coarse clay
from Li-ch’un, near Ching-tê Chên, and we are told that
the seggar-makers also manufactured rough bowls for the
use of the workmen from the same material.
V.--PREPARING THE MOULDS FOR THE ROUND WARE.
VI.--FASHIONING THE ROUND WARE ON THE WHEEL.
VII.--FABRICATION OF THE VASES (_cho ch’i_).
VIII.--COLLECTION OF THE BLUE COLOUR.
The mineral was obtained at this time from Shao-hsing
and Chin-hua in Chêkiang.
IX.--SELECTION OF THE BLUE MATERIAL.
X.--MOULDING THE PASTE AND GRINDING THE COLOURS.
XI.--PAINTING THE ROUND WARE IN BLUE.
XII.--FABRICATION AND DECORATION OF VASES.
XIII.--DIPPING THE WARE INTO THE GLAZE OR BLOWING THE GLAZE
ON TO IT.
Three methods of glazing are described: the old method
of painting the glaze on with goat’s-hair brush; dipping
the ware into a large jar of glaze; and blowing on the
glaze with a bamboo tube covered at the end with gauze.
XIV.--TURNING THE UNBAKED WARE AND HOLLOWING OUT THE
FOOT.
This turning or polishing was done on a wheel. For
convenience of handling the foot of the vessel was left
with a lump of clay adhering until all the processes,
except firing, were complete; the foot was then trimmed
and hollowed out, and the mark painted underneath.
XV.--PUTTING THE FINISHED WARE INTO THE KILN.
XVI.--OPENING THE KILN WHEN THE WARE IS BAKED.
XVII.--DECORATING THE ROUND WARE AND VASES IN FOREIGN
COLOURING. See p. 242.
XVIII.--THE OPEN STOVE AND THE CLOSED STOVE.
Two types of small kiln used to fire the on-glaze enamels.
XIX.--WRAPPING IN STRAW AND PACKING IN CASKS.
XX.--WORSHIPPING THE GOD AND OFFERING SACRIFICE.
There are a few illustrations appended to the _T’ao lu_ which
cover much the same field, but they are roughly drawn. A much better
set of coloured pictures is exhibited in frames in the Franks
Collection in the British Museum, showing most of the processes
described by T’ang.