THE CERAMIC ART ]N CHINA. 443 



4. Loiv dish of white porcelain with open-work edge formed by intersecting circles; 

 decoration inside, six medallions, of dragons feng hiiang, and formal designs 

 joined by conventional foliage ; outside a light pattern in blue. Markon foot, 

 Ta-ming-zung-lo-nien-cUh. "Made during the Yunglo period (1403 to 1424) 

 of the Ming dynasty ;" style of decoration and of writing in the date ; mark 

 shows it, however, to be of Japanese manufacture. Diameter, 9f inches. 

 The" lang or dragon is the chief of the four Chinese supernatural beasts, the 

 other three being the feng huang (usually translated phoenix), the 

 oh'iliii (usually translated unicorn), and the tortoise. It is usually 

 represented with scowling head, straight horns, a scaly, serpentine 

 body with four feet armed with formidable claws ; along the length 

 of the body runs a line of bristling dorsal spines, and on the hips and 

 shoulders are flame-like appendages. The claws appear to have 

 originally numbered three on each foot, but the number has in sub- 

 sequent ages been increased to five. The Sliuo-tven, a dictionary pub- 

 lished in the second century A. D., states that of the three hundred and 

 sixty scaly reptiles the dragon is the chief. It wields the power of 

 transformation and the gift of rendering itself visible or invisible at 

 pleasure. In spring it ascends to the skies and in autumn it buries 

 itself in the watery depths. The watery principle in the atmosphere 

 is essentially associated with the lung, but its congener, the chias- 

 Jung, is inseparably connected with waters gathered upon the surface 

 of the earth. A denizen of such waters is also the variety p'anlung, 

 which does not mouut to Heaven. There is also a species of hornless 

 dragon — the chin-lung. Kuan Tz'u (seventh century B. C.) declares 

 that " the dragon becomes at will reduced to the size of a silk-worm 

 or swollen till it fills the space of Heaven and earth. It desires to 

 mount, and it rises till it affronts the clouds; to sink, and it de- 

 scends till hidden below the fountains of the deep." The early cos- 

 mogouists enlarged upon the imaginary data of previous writers, 

 and averred that there were four distinct kinds of dragons proper— 

 the t'ien-lung or celestial dragon, which guards the mansions of the 

 gods and supports them so that they do not fall; the shen-lung or 

 spiritual dragon, which causes the winds to blow and produces rain 

 for the benefit of mankind ; the ti-lung or dragon of earth, which 

 marks out the courses of rivers and streams; and the fu-ts'ang-lung 

 or dragon of hidden treasures, which watches over the wealth con- 

 cealed from mortals. Modern superstition has further originated 

 the idea of four dragon kings, each bearing rule over one of the four 

 seas which form the borders of the habitable earth. The hiiang-lung 

 or yellow dragon is the most honored of the tribe ; and this it was, 

 which, rising from the waters of Lo, presented to the eyes of 

 Fuhsi the elements of writing (see No. 36). The dragon, as chief 

 among the beings divinely constituted, is peculiarly symbolical of 

 all that pertains to the Son of Heaven — the Emperor, whose throne is 

 termed lung-ivei, the dragon-seat, and whose face is described as lung- 

 yen, the dragon-countenance (see Mayer's Chinese Readers' Manual 

 No. 451). At his death the Emperor is believed to be borne by dragons 

 to the regions of tlie blessed. The dragon thus Intimately associ- 

 ated with the Emperor is always depicted with five talons on each 

 claw, and it is he alone, properly speaking, wlio can use such a de- 

 vice upon his property; the dragon borne by the princes of the 

 blond has but four talons on each claw. Tiie distinction, however, 

 is not at present rigidly maintained, and the five-clawed dragon is 

 met with embroidered on officers' uniforms. 



