CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 331 



orders were not invariabl}' executed at the oovernmcnt factories, but 

 were frequently intrusted to private enterprise. None, however, of 

 the articles tendered was accepted unless considered perfect, and the 

 test was so severe that as much as 90 per cent was at times rejected. 

 Under the Ming dynasty, however, the manufacture appears to have 

 been more and more restricted to the Chingte-chen factories, which 

 thenceforward practically monopolized the production of artistic por- 

 celain. The administration was reformed, and officers were dispatched 

 from the capital with the orders, the execution of which they had to 

 superintend, and on completion to deliver to the palace — duties which, 

 like most others of emolument and dignit}', were absorbed by eunuchs 

 during the reigns of the last emperors of that dynasty. 



In their paintings, which are alwa3\s in water color, the Chinese, 

 while of course requiring on the artist's part a knowledge of the tech- 

 nique adequate to a proper treatment of the subject chosen, admire 

 chieiiy a boldness of stroke which proves complete mastery over the 

 pencil, and a facility of conception which permits of improvisation, so 

 to speak; that is, of the elaboration of the original design currente 

 calamo^ and without having previously outlined a sketch of it upon the 

 object to be decorated. This style of painting is termed J9^-^, "follow- 

 ing the will of the brush." An artist who first sketches out his design 

 and then carefully and elaborateh" fills in the details, a stj'le which is 

 depreciatingly termed kung-% "mechanical," occupies in their estima- 

 tion a ver}' subordinate position. And the characteristics of the two 

 styles are so clearly defined, or at least are so patent to the practiced 

 native eje, that a single glance almost suffices to enable a connoisseur 

 to determine to which of the two a painting belongs. 



In a country, too, where painting as a profession does not exist, and 

 where the interchange of fans or scrolls painted hj the donors, as one 

 of the most ordinary forms of courtesy, generates, if not a profound 

 knowledge of the art, at least a very general practical proficiency in 

 it, it has resulted that the most noted artists are to be found among the 

 class enjoying the most leisure — that formed of the successful competi- 

 tors in the literar}" examinations which constitute the one entry to offi- 

 cial emplo^anent. In this way the more highly esteemed style of paint- 

 ing, with its bold free stroke, came to be considered (as indeed it prac- 

 tically was) the almost exclusive production of the literary or official 

 class. Hence when, during the Ch'enghua period, the decoration of 

 porcelain in many colors came to be that most highly prized, it became 

 customary to have the designs drawn b}' the most celebrated artists 

 among the palace officials and to transmit them to the manufactory to 

 be there executed b}^ the most skilled painters. 



Owing to the care thus exercised in obtaining decorative designs from 

 the brushes of the best artists and in having them executed by the most 

 able workmen, the manufacture reachecl a higher point of excellence 



