Note 58 — Chapter VII · THE PORCELAIN OF CHINA—(continued).

I would especially point to a remarkable water-vessel, about ten inches high, in the collection at Dresden. This vase is in the form of a phœnix. Green, as well as turquoise, purple and yellow are all found in the decoration, and the colours are all well developed. There is in the British Museum—a collection in many ways remarkable for the number of exceptional types illustrated—a jar with cover, of this class. The ground is a dull purple covered with small spirals of black; the rest of the decoration—rocks, waves, flowers, and jewels—is mainly green of two shades with a little yellow. On some of the flowers, however, we see a poor attempt at turquoise blue. Next to this example stands a baluster-shaped vase with tall, straight neck (Pl. vii. 2.). The ground is here of a pale greyish yellow, with crackles of a darker shade—so far, in fact, of a Ko yao type. The decoration is of a predominant leafy green, with a little purple and yellow here and there; but on the flowers we find, in addition, an enamel of turquoise, poor in colour, indeed, but certainly a copper blue. Both these examples are classed as Ming, and both would seem to show that the combination of the turquoise enamel (essentially a silicate of copper and soda) with the lead-fluxed green had been attempted in Ming times. It was, however, impossible to obtain satisfactory results in this way, so that in Kang-he’s time the turquoise was reserved for the demi grand feu, and the green alone used as an enamel over the glaze.