350 KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900, 



alread}' attained, good work continued to be performed, but it fell 

 short of what the court had grown accustomed to, and no initiative 

 was taken to attempt originality either in design or decoration. 



From 1821 to 1850. 



Chiach'ing was succeeded by his second son, who assumed the title of 

 Taokuang (1821 to 1850), a ruler whose good intentions to root out 

 the abuses that had grown up during his father's reign were largely 

 neutralized b}' natural indolence. His difficulties were, besides, greatly 

 increased b}'' the war with France and England, and the outbreak 

 shortly after of the great T'aip'ing rebellion, which during his reign 

 and that of his son (Hsienf eng, 1851 to 1861) devastated sixteen out of 

 the eighteen provinces of the Chinese Empire, and threatened the over- 

 throw of his dynast}'". Notwithstanding these serious causes for anx- 

 iety, he found time to devote some attention to the ceramic art, and the 

 porcelain manufactured for his own use, and marked with the designa- 

 tion he gave to his own palace, Shen-te-f ang ^ compares not unfavorably 

 with similar productions under Yungcheng and Chienlung, and is at 

 the present day much sought after by Chinese connoisseurs. 



From 1850 to 1888. 



The productions of his successor are marked by rapid decadence, 

 and the rebels, when they overran Kiangsi province, having entirely 

 destro3'ed Chingte-chen and its factories, the manufacture of porcelain 

 ceased entirely. 



During the reigns of his son T'ungchih (1862 to 1871) and nephew 

 Kuanghsii (1875 to date) the manufacture has been renewed and great 

 attention paid to its improvement, but it still falls far short of the 

 classic periods of Yungcheng and of Chienlung. Some of the decora- 

 tions in sepia exhibit considerable artistic merit, and a style of decora- 

 tion consisting of flowers and butterflies in black and white upon a pale 

 turquoise ground was highl}^ appreciated some tif teen 3^ears ago among 

 foreigners. The greatest measure of success has, however, of late 

 years been gained in the reproduction of ih&famille verte decoration of 

 the drst half of K'anghsi's reign, and of this ornamentation or of plum 

 blossom on black grounds. So good are these imitations that a prac- 

 tised eye can alone detect the false from the real, and I have known a 

 pair of black-ground vases, onl}^ two or three j^ears old, purchased by 

 a foreign dealer for over $1,000, under the belief, no doubt, that 

 they dated from the time of K'anghsi or of Chienlung. 



INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE PORCELAIN INTO EUROPE. 



M. Brongniart said that porcelain was first introduced into Europe 

 by the Portuguese in 1518. Researches made since the publication of 

 this work in 1844 prove, however, that oriental porcelain was known in 



