382 REPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



heaven," in the old seal form enjjraved in the paste from beneath the foot, 

 but reversed so that they read cctrrectly on the upper side of the plate. 

 Mark, Tn-ch'ing-k'(tu(j-bdvirn-vhih, "made during the K'anghsi period of the 

 great Pure Dynasty." Diameter, 7| iiuhes. 

 58, ri9. Plates {a pair) of white K'anghsi porcelain, for use on birthday occasions 

 in the palace. The ornamentation consists in the center of the plate of a 

 large .s'/(o/( (longevity) character in ))lue, containing a pointed peach of the 

 genii in enamel glaze, upon which i.^ represented a stork {Grus viridiroMli^ 

 Veillot) in blue (the peach and stork being emblems of immortality, see 

 X(j. 27). Kound this medallion is entwined conventional foliage in enamel 

 colors, branching ai)art to afford eight spaces, in which are alternately a 

 peach and the character shou in gold on blue medallion. Outside, on the 

 rim, light-green bamboo stalks spring from rocks on which grows the red 

 fungus of the immortals {ling ckih). Mark as in last. Diameter, 8^ inches. 

 60. Vase, circular in shape, of white K'anghsi porcelain, belonging to the famille 

 vertc. On it is represented a garden with a pavilion in the rear. In it the 

 seven worthies of the bamboo grove (see No. 53) are depicted engaged in 

 chess-playing, music, and writing upon the rocks, the main picture being 

 confined by bands of arabesque ornaments interrupted by panels, containing 

 scholars" requisites, books, scrolls, etc., and above, around the neck, a rod- 

 fishing scene. Mark as above. Height, 18^ inches. (See Plate 3.) 

 61-68. Panels (8) of white K'anghsi porcelain, bearing representations of famous 

 scenes from the celebrated historical novel San kuo-chih, or Records of the 

 Three Kingdoms. This work, the most popular of its kind in China, details 

 the triangular contest engaged in for the throne between Liu Pei, assisted 

 l)y Chu-Ko-liang, Chang Fei, and Kuan Yii and Ts'ao Ts'ao, after his defec- 

 tion from Liu Pei, and the Sun family, which resulted in the partition of 

 the Empire among the houses of Han of Szechueii^ of Wu and of Wei, 

 founded, respectively, by Liu Hsiian-te, Sun Chung-mou and Ts'ao Meng-te 

 (A. D. 220 to 280). 

 69-76. Panels (8) of white K'anghsi porcelain decorated with flowers and butterflies 

 in enamel colors and gold, surrounded by a border of the same upon a jjale- 

 green ground j)icked out with black. 



These panels were originally in the form of bricks of about an inch and 

 a quarter thickness. It was customary in the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries for princes to have large couches, 6 to 8 feet in 

 length and having two end pieces, of ebony beautifully carved. The 

 one I have seen had five of these square porcelain panels or bricks 

 let into the back with a circular panel above the central one of 

 the five, and one in either end piece. They were so fixed by means 

 of square projections from the wood-setting w'hich fitted into corre- 

 sponding holes left for the purpose in the bricks that one surface 

 showed on either side of the setting with a rich and pretty effect, 

 one surface displaying some historical scene, the other a group of 

 flowers. Good specimens are now comparatively rare, and are 

 much sought after by foreigners to saw in half for the manufacture 

 of caclie-])ols. 

 77, 78. Panels (2) of white K'anghsi porcelain, of similar origin to the a])ove, but of 



inferior style of i>ainting. 

 79. liricL- (small) of white K'anghsi porcelain, showing the appearance of Nos. 61 to 

 78 in their original condition, before tlie surface plates had been sawn away 

 from the central portion into which fltted the wooden projections serving to 

 keep the porcelain ornamentation in its position in the couch. 



' Mayers, CHiinese Reader's Manual, No. 134. 



