THE CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 425 



During Chienlang's reign a considerable change is noticeable in the 

 style of ornamentation — a change undoubtedly brought about by the 

 Influence of foreign designs. During the latter portion of the Ming 

 dynasty, though arabesquedecoration was known to the Chinese under 

 the title of huei-huei, or Mohammedan style, and was also utilized, the 

 ornamentation upon porcelain, when it was not floral in its character or 

 formed of historical or mythological scenes, consisted almost entirely of 

 reproductions of the patterns found upon the brocaded satins of that 

 date. Under the earlier emperors of the present dynasty, though the 

 decoration was marked by greater wealth of detail and by far greater 

 artistic skill than at any previous time, it remained in essential charac- 

 ter the same. On Ohienlung porcelain, however, it exhibits a decided 

 tendency towards the styles of western decoration, showing in some 

 cases a close resemblance to the foliate ornamentation which plays so 

 important a part in the illumination of mediaeval missals, in others to 

 designs which are usually considered Persian or arabesque in their 

 origin. This marked modification is no doubt due in part to the in- 

 fluence of the designs sent from Persia to be copied in China on por- 

 celain ordered from that country, and after their return home to that of 

 the Chinese potters (whom Shah Abbas I, about the year 1600, had in- 

 vited to Persia, with the object of improving the manufacture of porcelain 

 at Ispahan), and in part to the influence of the Limoges enamels which 

 had been sent by Louis XIV to the Emperor K'anghsi and which, sub- 

 sequent to that date, succeeding emperors had obtained from the Jesuit 

 missionaries. These enamels seem indeed to have served as models to be 

 reproduced with fidelity 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 counter- 

 part of a Limoges enamel, even the signature J. L. (Jean Landriu. 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 fromChiuabearing 

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

 originated two 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, enclosing 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 

 style 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 WOrient et des 

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



