THE CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 439 



stroDgly bouud together, and the stacking of the oven being completed, 

 the door is bricked up. From the description given of the kilns by P. 

 d'Bntrecolles it appears that they are much the same as those used in 

 early times at Vienna and Berlin. 



After the baking commences a low fire is kept up for twenty-four 

 hours, which is then followed by one more powerful. At the top of the 

 kiln are four or five small holes covered with broken pots, one of which 

 is opened when it is thought the baking is completed, and by means of 

 pincers a cage is opened to test the condition of the porcelain. The 

 baking ended, firing is stopped, and all openings closed during a period 

 of three or five days, according to the size of the pieces, when the door 

 is opened and the articles removed. 



To bake porcelain decorated with soft colors or du demi-grand feu, two 

 kinds of kilns are used — one open, the other closed — the former of which 

 bears a close resemblance to the enameler's kiln {moufle). This kind of 

 furnace has been used in Germany to bake painted porcelain; but even in 

 China the liability to breakage confines their use to articles of small 

 size. The large pieces are baked in closed kilns, the general arrange- 

 ment of which resembles that of the kilns known as moufles, but being 

 circular in form, they are really porcelain kilns of small size. 



DECORATIONS. 



In the decoration of European porcelain one of three methods is fol- 

 lowed: [a) The use of paste of different colors; {b) the introduction of 

 the coloring matter in the glaze; (c) the application of the colors ui)on 

 the white surface of the porcelain. The two former methods require 

 the application of a temperature as high as that necessary to bake the 

 porcelain ; they are, therefore, termed colors du grand feu. The third 

 method requires for the vitrifaction of the colors a much lower temper- 

 ature; the colors used are therefore termed de moufie or of the enameler's 

 furnace. It is the use of this latter system which permits the repro- 

 duction with exactness of the works of celebrated oil painters. 



The substances employed in the decoration of porcelain in China may 

 bo divided into two similar categories, colors du grand feu and de 

 moufle. 



Colors du grand feu. — The varieties of the grounds in these colors 

 have played probably as important a part in the high reputation gained 

 by Chinese porcelain as have the originality and rich harmony of the 

 designs. The blue decoration under the glaze is made with the brush 

 on the unbaked porcelain; the coloring matter being peroxide of 

 cobaltiferous manganese, the shade, dark or light, .depending on the 

 quantity used, and the greater or less trending towards violet on the 

 richness of the ore in cobalt. It resists the tire well, retaining great 

 distinctness and at lower temperatures than are necessary at Sevres. 

 Celadon and the red grounds, at times showing an orange, at others a 

 violet shade, had not been successfully re[)roduced in Europe when 



