332 KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



during this (the Ch'enghua) period than at any other time during the 

 Ming dynasty, and the steps of development which led to this result 

 may ))e distinctl}' traced. 



As has been remarked earlier, decoration by painting in colors as dis- 

 tinct from the general coloring imparted l)y glaze was, I believe, first 

 reached under the Ming dynasty. In the Yunglo period (14:03 to 1424) 

 it took the form of decoration in blue under the glaze. Special atten- 

 tion was paid to this style during the Hsiiante period (1-126 to 1435), 

 and owing probably to the adoption of a special kind of foreign blue 

 (known in Chinese as Su-ni-po^ which appears to have been obtainable 

 during this period alone), a brilliancy of color was attained which was 

 never afterwards quite equaled. At the same time, however, a brilliant 

 red color attracted universal admiration. At first this was used hy itself 

 either as a uniform coloring over the outside of bowls and cups, or for 

 the delineation of fishes or peaches upon the white ground, the contrast 

 of the two colors, both striking in brilliancy, being highly admired. 

 Then a form was adopted which, while it gave due prominence to the 

 highly prized crimson, admitted of the introduction of other colors in 

 a subordinate capacity, such as vessels in the shape of persimmons 

 {Dmyji/ros kaki) on a leafy branch forming the handle, the fruit being 

 red, and the leaves and stalk of their natural colors, green of various 

 shades and brown respectively. From this form of decoration it 

 required but a step to reach the use of the enamel colors for which 

 the Ch'enghua period (1465 to 1487) is famous. 



The use of enamel colors continued during the Hungchih period (1488 

 to 1505), some of the specimens being scarcely inferior to th-e best 

 pieces of Ch'enghua ware, but gradually gave way in public favor to 

 a pale yellow glaze covering an ornamentation engraved in the paste. 

 This was also the most highly esteemed production of the Ch'engte 

 period (1506 to 1521); though the efforts to obtain further supplies of 

 blue from the west being crowned with success, a revival in favor of 

 "blue and white" (;hina took place during this and especially the fol- 

 lowing reign till the supply was once more exhausted. 



Peculation, misgovernment and its attendant disorders, and an 

 increasing difficulty in finding the finer qualities of clay combined to 

 cause a steady decline from this period onward in the artistic excellence 

 of the porcelain produced. The rapidity of the downward course was con- 

 siderably accelerated by the enormous extent of the imperial orders 

 for the supply of the palace, which, sometimes aggregating 100,000 

 pairs of articles on a single occasion, taxed the resources of the gov- 

 ernment factories beyond their strength, with the result that, in order 

 to economize money and labor, colors which were expensive or difficult 

 to procure were replaced by others less costly and more simple in 

 their ingredients, and artistic beauty and excellence of workmanship 

 were sacrificed to promptness in providing the supplies ordered. It 

 is th6 gradual dispersion of the articles comprised in the vast orders 



