Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/390

his cachet he seems to have imitated the caligraphy of Chun Ta-ch'wan, but his writing is bad though his carving is delicate.

Chan Sin-hiang copied the works of his predecessors Shi and Li, and though he followed his models with great fidelity, evidences of an imitator's hand are discernible. His productions are remarkable for strength and boldness rather than for delicacy, but they all show talent of no common order. The success which he achieved proved his ruin, for he became over-bearing, drank deeply, and courted the society of men above his station. The consequence was that his later works lacked carefulness. Occasionally he selected pieces manufactured by his pupils and put his own cachet on them.

Min Lu-shang was renowned for his reproductions of celebrated masterpieces. He seems to have sacrificed originality to reverence.

Chan Kwang-fu confined himself to studying the works of Kung-chun and Shi Ta-pin. Unfortunately he lost the sight of one eye, and this calamity is more or less evidenced by a want of fineness in his productions.

Chan Chung, a native of Wu-yuen, and originally a manufacturer of porcelain at Ching-tê-chên. Finding it hopeless to look for distinction in a branch of the keramic art already numbering so many devotees, he abandoned porcelain and turned his attention to pottery. His ingenuity was remarkable. Many of the pieces he designed, as perfume-boxes, flower-vases, paper-weights, and so forth, show singularly fine moulding and chiselling. His vases were shaped in the form of flowers, leaves, and fruits and were decorated with insects. His dragons sporting among storm-clouds, with out-stretched claws and straining eyes; his statuettes of the goddess Kuan-yin, her features at once majestic and benevolent—these are indeed wonderful productions, instinct with life. His genius almost equalled that of Lung Mien tao-tsz, but unfortunately he overworked himself and died young.

Chan Chiun-yung, surnamed Se-liang, derived his inspiration from the works of Chung-mei, whom he almost matched in skill and elegance. In style his pieces resemble those of Ngeu Ching-chun. He used no measuring instrument when