420 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



choice of materials, and every article made under his orders was re- 

 markable for delicacy of workmanship, purity of form, and brilliance 

 of coloring. He imitated with wonderful precision the most beautiful 

 of the ancient designs, and his efforts at reproducing the most cele- 

 brated glazes were crowned with equal success. In addition he is 

 credited with the invention of several new styles of decoration, of which 

 the most remarkable were: The use of European blues and violets, a 

 ground of enamel black, white flowers or designs in gold upon a black 

 ground, the French method of painting, and the yao-pien or flamhe 

 style. In a word, "under his direction," Chinese writers state, "the 

 products of the imperial factories attained their highest perfection.* 



The work translated by M. Julien distinctly states that the introduc- 

 tion of the black grounds dates from the early part of Chienlung's 

 reign. Treating, as this work does, of events of such comparatively 

 recent occurrence, its reliability would at first glance seem scarcely open 

 to doubt. I am, however, strongly of opinion that the statement is 

 erroneous, and that black grounds originated some decades earlier. I 

 have seen specimens which, the black ground apart, have all the char- 

 acteristics of the K'anghsi period, and far inferior in delicacy of execu- 

 tion to specimens which were undoubtedly manufactured under the 

 direction of T'angying, such as ISo. 93 of this collection. The accuracy 

 of the statement in other respects is, however, confirmed by experience. 

 The use of violet, or of magenta with a violet tone, with most happy 

 effect, especially for grounds, is one of the characteristics of this period, 

 while the best blues fully equal anything in that color produced during 

 the best periods of the Mings. 



Special attention, as has been seen, was also paid at this time to the 

 production of yao-pien, of which Chinese writers distinguish three kinds, 

 two due to celestial agency 5 one, the flamhe glaze, to human ingenuity. 

 As regards the latter, oxydulated copper, it is well known, furnishes 

 vitrifiable painting with a fine red. This, thrown in a body on a vase, 

 forms the tint called haricot, a kind of fawn color ; with a further quan- 

 tity of oxygen of equal amount a protoxyde is formed, producing a 

 beautiful green, that may be changed into sky-blue by increasing the 

 oxygenation. The tints upon a vase may thus be modified almost indef- 

 initely by a due regulation at different periods during the process of 

 baking of the currents of air admitted. " When a clear fire placed in a 

 strong current draws a considerable column of air, all the oxygen is not 

 consumed, and part of it combines with the metal ; if, on the other hand, 

 thick smoke is introduced into the furnace, of which the carbonaceous 

 mass, greedy of oxygen, absorbs everywhere this gas, necessary for 

 its combustion, the oxydes will be destroyed and the metal completely 

 restored. Placed at a given moment in these given conditions, by the 

 rapid and simultaneous introduction of currents of air and of sooty 

 vapors the ^anco* glaze assumes a most picturesque appearance ; the 



* Julien: Op. cit., pp. 108 et. se. 



