THE CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 441 



they all melt at the same temperature aud after bakiug present a 

 sufficient and thoroughly uniform glaze. 



In Chinese decorations these conditions, insisted upon in Europe, 

 are both absent. Some colors, such as tlierose tiuts derived from gold, 

 the blues, greens, aud yellows, are brilliant, thoroughly melted, and so 

 thick as to stand out above the general level of the surface; others, 

 such as the reds derived from iron and the blacks, are much thinner, 

 and are almost always quite dull or only slightly glazed when thiu. 

 The style of painting in Chinese diifers entirely from the European. 

 In the majority of the specimens the forms and flesh are not modeled; 

 strokes of black or red define the outlines; the tones do not shade; 

 the colors are laid in fiat tints on which a damask is sometimes drawn 

 afterwards, either in the same or in different colors, but the mixture on 

 the palette ofdififerent crushed colors, which permits of so much variety 

 in European j)aiutiug, appears not to be practiced by them. Their 

 colors (as indeed seemed probable from the lightness of the shades ob- 

 tained in spite of their thickness before analysis had confirmed the 

 presumption) contained far less coloring-matter than do the European,. 

 a peculiarity which makes them approach nearer to the vitrified sub- 

 stances known as enamel than to any other. They are characterized 

 by great simplicity and a cousiderabie degree of uniformity. 



The flux, which is not distinct in color, is always composed of silica, of 

 oxide of lead in but slightly varying proportions, and of a larger or 

 smaller quantity of alkalies (soda and potash). Thisflux contains in disso- 

 lution, in the conditions of silicates, some hundredth parts only of color- 

 ing oxides. The number of these is very small, being oxide of copper 

 for greens and bluish-greens, gold for the reds, oxide of cobalt for the 

 blues, oxide of antimony for the yellows, and arsenical acid and stan- 

 nic acid for whites. Oxides of iron to produce red and oxides of impure 

 manganese to produce black are not used, because no doubt these colors 

 can not be. obtained from the oxides named by means of dissolution. 



In Europe, in addition to the oxides already mentioned, important re- 

 sults are obtained from substances unknown in China. The shade 

 derived from pure oxide of cobalt is modified by mixing with it oxide 

 of zinc or alumina, and sometimes alumina and oxide of chrome; pure 

 oxide of iron gives a dozen reds, shading from orange-red to very dark 

 violet; ochres, pale or dark, yellow or brown, are obtained by the com- 

 btnation in different proportions of oxide of iron, of oxide of zinc, and 

 of oxide of cobalt or of nickel; browns are produced by increasing the 

 amount of oxide of cobalt contained in, and blacks by omitting the 

 oxide of zinc from, thecomjDosition which gives the ochers. The shades 

 of yellow are varied by the addition of oxide of zinc or of tin to render 

 them lighter, aud of oxide of iron to render them darker. Oxide of 

 chrome, pure or mixed with oxide of cobalt or with oxides of cobalt 

 and of zinc, gives yellow-greens and bluish-greens, whi^h may be made 

 to vary from pure green to almost pure blue. Metallic gold supplies 



