CHINA
PORCELAERN DECORATED
are of fair quality, heavy, solid, somewhat rudely finished below, and generally having no depression in the under surface; characteristics that render them apt to be confounded with ware of the Wan-/ era, es- pecially as the tone of the blue decoration is virtually alike in both periods. ‘The mark of the era is Ta- Tsin Shun-chih nien chi. It is seldom met with. With the accession of the renowned Kang-hsi (1661-1722), second sovereign of the Tsimg dynasty, the keramic art began once more to flourish. Under his enlightened and liberal rule the potteries at Ching-té-chén developed a degree of excellence and prosperity without parallel. The era has been well called the golden age of Chinese keramics. Tang, an expert of remarkable ability, superintended the factories at Ching-té-chén. Chinese records say that he held constant communion with the Genius of Pottery, and that the ware made under his direc- tion was necessarily of super-excellent quality. His achievements almost justify this superstition from a Chinese point of view. With regard to the blue- and-white porcelains of his time, it will perhaps seem fit to speak first of the so-called “ Hawthorn Pattern,” so highly and not undeservedly popular among Western collectors. It need scarcely be pre- mised that the term ‘“ Hawthorn” is a figment of Western fancy. The design referred to is really flowers of the plum in white on a blue ground, and porcelains thus decorated are known to Chinese con- noisseurs and dealers as Mei-Awa-yao, or “ plum-blos- som ware.” The idea of decoration in white on a blue ground had its origin long before the Kang-hsi era. It had been conceived as far back as the Chéng- hwa epoch (1465-1487), and may be of even greater
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