rp]KAMIC ART IN CHINA. 875 



les Sitnirs Pierre <le (royer et Jacol) de Keysor (Leydeii, 1()()5), and 

 the Travels from JNIuscovy to ('hina, \)y E. Ysliraiit Ides, Ambassa- 

 dor from Peter the (Treat to the Emperor of China in 1692 (pub- 

 lished in Harris's Collection of Voyages), say: "'The finest, richest, 

 and most valuable china is not exported, at least very rarely, par- 

 ticularly a yellow ware, which is destined for the imperial use, and 

 is prohibited to all other persons." 

 The HKl-Yuan was a park laid out by Yang Ti (A. D. 60r> to 616), of the 

 Sui dynasty. It was over 60 miles in circuit, and "exhausted the 

 utmost degrees of splendor and beauty. When the foliage became 

 decayed and fell, it was replaced upon the trees by leaves of silk. 

 Here the imperial debauche was accustomed to ride on moonlit 

 nights, accompanied by a cavalcade of thousands of the inmates of 

 h is seraglio. ' ' ( Mayers. ) 

 lioirl of pure white K'anghsi porcelain, wide spreading, decorateil on ontaidc with 

 mythological subjects admirably painted in great detail and with great deli- 

 cacy of brush in the characteristic tones of the latter half of this reign, 

 vermilion-red and enamel colors. Inside &hvA\w\\ of the peach tree, bearing 

 one fruit and several leaves, in green, shaded and varied with darker tints of 

 the same color, with the exception of two, which show a great variety of 

 shades of decay, the veins alone remaining in parts; on the peach, which, as 

 here, is usually pointed in China, is the character Sltoa (longevity) in the 

 "seal" style in gold. An almost unique specimen of the highest style of 

 decoration during the period when the manufacture of porcelain had reached 

 its highest point. (See Plate 1.) 



This bowl from its decoration was undoubtedly intended for use in the 

 palace on the occasion of an imperial birthday. The peach is one 

 of the emblems of longevity, from a legend which traced them to the 

 gardens of the fairy Hsi Wang-Mu, where they ripened ])ut once in 

 three thousand years, and conferred tliat term of life iip(jn those who 

 were fortunate enough to taste them. Tlie legend runs thus: "In 

 the first year of the period Yuan feng in the Hau dynasty (B. C. 110) 

 the fairy Hsi Wang had descended from her mountain realm to visit 

 tlie Emperor Wu Ti, bringing with her seven peaches. She ate two 

 of the number, and upon the Einperor expressing a wish to preserve 

 the seed, she told him that the tree from which they came bore once 

 only in three thousand years, but each fruit conferred three centuries 

 of life upon the eater. At that moment she perceived Tung-Fang- 

 so peeping at her through th^ window, and, ]>ointing to him, said: 

 'That child whom j'ou see yonder has stolen three of my peaches 

 and is now nine thousand years old.' " ' The gum of the peach tree 

 mixed with muHierry ash is used as an elixir ritie by the Taoists.'- 

 The tiecoration on the outside is an adaptation of the allegorical re])re- 

 sentation of the jirayer for "hapjiiness, distinction, and longevity" 

 (fu-lao-»liou), met with in Chinese paintings under many forms, but 

 always with the same general characteristics. One of the immortals, 

 the great sage Lao Tz'u, accompanied by attendants, the crane 

 {(U-us viridirostris Veillot), the stag, the hairy tortoise, all emblems 

 of long life; another, Li T'ich-kuai, with attendants, evolving from a 

 gourd contracted at the center, five bats, emblematic of the five bless- 

 ing.s — longevity, riches, peacefulness and serenity, the love of virtue, 

 and an end crowning the life — the Chinese characters for bat and 

 happiness having the same pronunciation. 



1 Mayers, Chinese Reader's Manual, No. 572. ■'Idem, No. 707. 



