CHINA
PORCELAIN DECORATED
pendants, and the crape head-dress of ancient times are replaced by the full-sleeved surcoat, the round cap with button and plume, and the queue of the Tartar epoch, it is possible to be sure that there is no ques- tion of Ming ware. In Oriental art the soft folds and flowing curves of drapery take the place occupied in the West by the graceful contours of the human figure. So soon as the Chinese keramist found that his palette enabled him to depict luxuriantly appar- elled damsels and richly robed officials, such subjects seemed to him not less natural than nude nymphs and muscular heroes have always seemed to the pot- ters of Europe and America. Moreover, in China the bright colours of official uniforms and private apparel offer a marked contrast to the generally som- bre scenery of the country and the ungraceful archi- tecture of the cities. An artist applying polychrome decoration to porcelain, and seeking to travel beyond the range of dragons, phcenixes, and supernatural beings, could scarcely have hesitated to derive inspi- ration from what may be said to have been the only gay objects amid his surroundings. Accordingly the prevalence of figure subjects — sovereigns, officials, ladies, and children —is a striking feature of Kang- Ast enamelled porcelain.
With respect to enamels, the colours of the Ming potters were still employed, but there was often added to them a blue enamel — varying from brilliant blue to lavender —the presence of which is alone sufh- cient to mark a piece as belonging to a period later than the Ming dynasty, since before the Kang-Asi era blue, if used, invariably appears, not as an enamel, but as a pigment under the glaze. The enamels them- selves cannot be said to have been purer or more bril-
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