442 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



the purple of Casaiiis, which luay be changed at will into violet, purple, 

 or cariuine. Other useful colors are obtained from oxide of uranium 

 and from chromate of iron, of baryta, and of cadmium. 



In European colors all these coloring matters are merely mixed. In 

 the Obinese the oxides are on the contrary dissolved. This peculiarity, 

 no less than their appearance, closely connects the Chinese colors with 

 "enamels." Both present the same coloring, obtained from the same 

 oxides and a composition of flux very similar, sometimes identical. 

 Transparent enamels are vitreous compounds, the composition of which 

 varies according to the amount of fusibility required and which are 

 colored by a few hundredths of oxides. Blues are supplied by oxide of 

 cobalt; greens by protoxide of copper; reds by gold; opaque enamels, 

 yellow or white, owe their color and opacity either to antimony or to 

 arsenic or stannic acids, together or alone. It had, however, been 

 found impossible to utilize these enamel substances in the decoration 

 of European porcelain, owing to the fact that they scaled off; and when 

 the Chinese colors (as sent by MM. Itier and Ly) were experimented 

 upon at Sevres, they did precisely the same thing. When placed upon 

 Chinese porcelain, however, they developed at a temperature below 

 that used at the Sevres manufactory for retouching flowers, and did 

 not scale. The explanation is no doubt to be found in the fact that 

 the paste of Chinese porcelain being more fusible than the European, 

 the glaze must also be more easily fusible, and the lime introduced into 

 it to increase the fusibility adapts it in some manner for closer union 

 with the compounds forming the enamel. 



If, then, the appearance of Chinese porcelain differs from that of 

 European productions, if the harmony of their paintings offers greater 

 variety, it is the necessary result of the i)rocess employed in China. 

 All the colors used contained but little coloring matter and have no 

 worth unless applied in a depth which giv^es to their paintings a relief 

 impossible to obtain by other means. The harmony of their decoration 

 results from the nature and composition of their enamels. 



CATALOGUE. 



1. Small dish for ivashing pencils, square, witb. upright sides, of white Sung dynasty 



(A. D. 9G0 to 1259) porcelain coarsely crackled. Height, f inch ; diameter, 2^ 

 inches. 



2. Low rase for umslnng pencils, square, with sines bellying outwards from mouth 



downwards, having two four-footed lizards with long curled tails moulded 

 in relief cramped on rim, and heads looking into trough, of white Sung 

 dynasty porcelain covered with stone-coloied glaze. Height, 1^ inches ; 

 diameter, 3 inches and .3^ inches. 



3. Plate of white Chiinchou porcelain {Chiln-yao) of Yiiau dynasty (A. D. 1260 to 



1349), covered with glaze of duck's egg blue, of lighter tint at edge and brim, 

 from which glaze has run, with large irregular splotches of claret red, 

 shading iuto purple at edges, where it mixes with blue color of the body. 

 Diameter, 7f inches. 



