Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/219

and a visit to any crockery stall in China will show most of the commonest articles with two marks, a transparent deception, kept up to the present day." This criticism, by a connoisseur of unequalled knowledge, cannot be too strongly emphasised. The term "Ming porcelain" has long been applied with absolute assurance to many imposing specimens of highly ornamented ware in European collections, though very few of them probably belong to a period more remote than the end of the seventeenth century. The closing periods of the Ming dynasty may, indeed, be more largely represented, though the nature of their wares renders this unlikely. Genuine specimens of Chêng-hwa enamelled porcelain are virtually unknown outside China, and even in the country of their origin they cannot be found without great difficulty.

To ware of this class—i.e., ware having the surface decorated with independent designs in coloured enamels—the name Wu-tsai-ki, or "five-coloured porcelain," seems to have been first applied in the Chêng-hwa period. Thenceforth the designation continued to be employed even when it had ceased to be numerically accurate. The original "five colours" were red, green, violet or purple, yellow, and black or brown. Adding blue under the glaze and gold, it will be seen that the colours actually at the service of the decorator were seven.

Another development made by the Chêng-hwa experts was the application of enamel decoration to coloured grounds. Two beautiful specimens of this nature are depicted by H'siang. In each the body colour is pale yellow and the enamels are green and brown. The latter are applied in the subordinate style; that is to say, they cover leaves, tendrils, and