450 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



and who, bat for a revolutiou, would have deposed the dynasty of 

 T'aug, she was summoned to court, but vanished from mortal sight 

 on her way thither. She is said to have been seen once more, in 

 A. D. 750, floating upon a cloud at the temple of the Taoist immortal 

 Ma-Ku, and again some years later near Canton. She is sometimes 

 represented clothed in a mantle of mugwort leaves and holding a 

 lotus-flower. 



26. Boiol of white K'anghsi (1662 to 1722) porcelain, with scalloped edges dividing 



the vessel into eight flattened sections, each filled with a scece admirably 

 painted, chiefly in blue, but with small details in enamel green, on a ground 

 inside and out of deep yellow under thick transparent glaze. These paint- 

 ings are copies from celebrated pictures, drawn by a famous artist named 

 Fei of the Ylian dynasty, i. e., latter half of the twelfth or early in thirteenth 

 century, illustrative of the pleasures of the Hsi-yiian or Western Park. At 

 bottom inside, a man holding ajar, also in blue. An admirable specimen of 

 a highly prized ware. Mark Ta-ohHng-k'a7ig-hsi-nien-chih, "Made during the 

 k'anghsi period of the Great Pure or Ch'ing (the present) dynasty." Height, 

 3f inches; Diameter, 7|- inches. 



Of this ware the " Ambassade de la Compagnie Orientale des Provinces 

 Unis vers I'Empereur de la Chine ou Grand Can de Tartaric fait par 

 les Sieurs Pierre de Goyer et Jacob de Keyser " (Leyden, 1665), and 

 ihe " Travels from Muscovy to China, by E. Ysbranti Ides, Ambassa- 

 dor from Peter the Great to the Emperor of China in 1692" (pub- 

 lished in Harris's "Collection of Voyages"), say: "The finest, rich- 

 est, and most valuable china is not exported, at least very rarely, 

 particularly a yellow ware, which is destined for the imjjerial use, 

 and is prohibited to all other persons." 

 The Hsi-YUan was a park laid out by Yang Ti (A. D. 605 to 616) of the 

 Sui dynasty. It was over 60 miles in circuit, and "exhausted the 

 utmost degrees of splendor and beauty. When the foliage became 

 decayed and fell, it was replaced upon the trees by leaves of silk. 

 Here the imperial debauche was accustomed to ride on moonlit 

 nights, accompanied by a cavalcade of thousands of the inmates of 

 his seraglio." (Mayers.) 



27. Bowl of pure white K'anghsi porcelain, wide spreading, decorated on outside with 



mythological subjects admirably painted in great detail and with great del- 

 icacy of brush in the characteristic tones of the latter half of this reign. 

 Vermilion-red and enamel colors. Inside a branch of the peach-tree, bearing 

 one fruit and several leaves, in green shaded and varied with darker tints of 

 the same color, with the exception of two, which show a great variety of 

 shades of decay, the veins alone remaining in parts ; ou the peach, which, as 

 here, is usually pointed in China, is the character Slwu, longevity, in the 

 "seal" style in gold. An almost unique specimen of the highest style of 

 decoration during the period when the manufacture of porcelain had reached 

 its highest point. 



This bowl from its decoration was uudoubtedly intended for use in the 

 palace on the occasion of an imperial birthday. The peach is one 

 of the emblems of longevity, from a legend which traced them to the 

 gardens of the fairy Hsi Wangmu, where they ripened but once in 

 three thousand years, and conferred that term of life upon those who 

 were fortunate enough to taste them. The legend runs thus : " In 

 the first year of the period Yiian feng in the Hau dynasty (B. C. 110) 

 the fairy Hsi Wang had descended from her mountain realm to visit 

 the Emperor Wu Ti, bringing with her seven peaches. She ate two 

 of the number, and, upon the Emperor expressing a wish to preserve 

 the aeed, she told him that the tre^ from which they came boro one© 



