CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 349 



subsequent to that date, succeeding emperors had obtained from the 

 Jesuit missionaries. These enamels seem indeed to have served as 

 models to be reproduced with lidelit}" in every detail. For M. du Sartel 

 gives the drawing of a low, open porcelain cup with two handles in the 

 collection of M. Marquis of Paris, which is described as being the exact 

 counterpart of a Limoges enamel, even the signature J. L. (Jean Lan- 

 drin, an enameller of that town) being reproduced upon the foot. 



At about the same period it became customary for nobles and wealthy 

 individuals in Europe to order services of porcelain from China bear- 

 ing their family arms. Indeed if tradition can be trusted the practice 

 originated tw^o centuries earlier; for the Emperor Charles V (1519 to 

 1555) is said to have ordered from China a complete service orna- 

 mented with his armorial bearings and monogram. The service is sup- 

 posed to have passed into the hands of the Elector of Saxony after the 

 emperor's withdrawal to Innspruck, and some plates now in the Dres- 

 den collection, marked with a double C, inclosing the crowned double- 

 headed imperial eagle, with coat of arms and collar of the Order of the 

 Golden Fleece, are believed by the writers responsible for the above 

 statement to be portions of this service. Judging, however, from the 

 st3'lc of decoration, I am of opinion that this belief is erroneous, and 

 that the plates in question were manufactured more than a century 

 later than Charles V's abdication. The French Compagnie (T Orient et 

 des Indes Orientales, whose title was shortly afterwards changed to Com- 

 pagniede Chine., during the short period it existed, 1685 to 1719, brought 

 from China, together with an extensive supply of other porcelains, 

 services specially ordered, bearing the arms of France, of Penthievre, 

 and of other distinguished families. Some of the services, as, for 

 instance, the plates bearing the arms of England, France, and the 

 provinces of The Netherlands, preserved in the Huis ten Bosch at The 

 Hague, undoubtedly date from the first half of K'anghsi's reign, but 

 the great majority are of later origin, and possess a considerable degree 

 of excellence both as to form and decoration. 



From 1796 to 1820. 



The truly great monarchs K'anghsi, Yungcheng, and Chipnlung^ 

 were succeeded by Chiach'ing (1796 to 1820), Chienlung's idle and 

 dissolute son, whose administration was characterized by a feeble- 

 ness hitherto unknown under Manchu rule, and was so detested 

 as to occasion attempts to assassinate the vicegerent of Heaven — a 

 stupendous crime in such a country as China. The porcelain factories, 

 in common with all branches of the Government service, languished 

 under the effects of this want of energy, and little worthy of special 

 mention was manufactured. As the result of the high excellence 



^ Chienlung abdicated in order to escape disrespect to his grandfather by occupy- 

 ing the throne for so long a period as he had reigned. 



