It is interesting to note that the imitation of the early Ming porcelains began as soon as this, and we may infer from the usual Chinese procedure that the marks of the Hsüan Tê and Ch’êng Hua periods were duly affixed to these clever copies.

Lung Ch’ing (1567–1572)

We read in the T’ao shuo[142] that the Imperial factory was re-established in the sixth year of this reign (1572), and placed under the care of the assistant prefects of the district. This would seem to imply that for the greater part of this brief period the Imperial works had been in abeyance. Be this as it may, there was no falling off in the quantity of porcelain commanded for the Court, and the extravagant and burdensome demands evoked a protest from Hsü Ch’ih, the president of the Censorate,[143] in 1571. It was urged among other things that the secret of the copper red colour (hsien hung) had been lost, and that the potters should be allowed to use the iron red (fan hung) in its place: that the size and form of the large fish bowls which were ordered made their manufacture almost impossible: that the designs for the polychrome (wu ts’ai) painting were too elaborate, and that square boxes made in three tiers were a novelty difficult to construct. Fire and flood had devastated Ching-tê Chên, and many of the workmen had fled, and he (the president) begged that a large reduction should be made in the palace orders.

We are not told whether this memorial to the emperor had the desired effect. In the case of the next emperor a similar protest resulted in a large reduction of the demands. But the document discloses several interesting facts, and among other things we learn that the designs for some of the ware and for the coloured decoration were still sent from the palace as in the days of Ch’êng Hua.

The official lists of porcelain actually supplied to the Court of Lung Ch’ing have been briefly summarised in the T’ao shuo[144]; but they do not include any new forms, and the motives of decoration were in the main similar to those recorded in the Chia Ching lists. The following, however, may be added to the summary in the previous chapter:—

The yü tsan hua, rendered in Giles’s Dictionary as the “tuberose,” by Bushell as the “iris.”

Clumps of chrysanthemum flowers.

Interlacing scrolls of mu-tan peony.

Ch’ang ch’un (long spring) flowers, identified by Bushell with the “jasmine.”

A “joyous meeting,” symbolised according to Bushell by a pair of magpies.

The Tartar pheasant (chai chih).

The season flowers supporting the characters ch’ien k’un ch’ing t’ai, “Heaven and earth fair and fruitful!”

Monsters (shou) in sea waves.

Flying fish.

Historical scenes (ku shih), as well as genre subjects (jên wu).

Children playing with branches of flowers.

This last design occurs both in the form of belts of foliage scrolls, among which are semi-nude boys, and of medallions with a boy holding a branch, on blue and white and polychrome wares of the late Ming period. But it is a design of considerable antiquity, and it is found engraved on the early Corean bowls which, no doubt, borrowed from Sung originals.

Though all these designs are given under the general heading of blue and white, we may infer that the polychrome which is occasionally mentioned was used in combination with the blue. Thus the mention of “phœnixes in red clouds flying through flowers,” of “nine red dragons in blue waves,” and of “a pair of dragons in red clouds,” recalls actual specimens which I have seen of Lung Ch’ing and Wan Li boxes with designs of blue dragons moving through clouds touched in with iron red. Again, where the blue designs are supplemented with “curling waves and plum blossoms in polychrome (wu ts’ai),” one thinks of the well-known pattern of conventional waves on which blossom and symbols are floating, as on Plate 79. Other types of decoration mentioned are yellow grounds and white glaze, both with dragon designs engraved under the glaze (an hua), peacocks and mu-tan peonies in gilding, and moulded ornament. A specific example of the last are the lions which served as knobs on the covers of the ovoid wine jars (t’an).

The author of the T’ao shuo pays a handsome tribute to the skill of the late Ming potters. “We find,” he says, “that the porcelain of the Ming dynasty daily increased in excellence till we come to the reigns of Lung Ch’ing and Wan Li, when there was nothing that could not be made.” At the same time he finds fault with a particular kind of decoration which was encouraged by the degraded and licentious tastes of the Emperor Lung Ch’ing, and seems to have only too frequently marred the porcelain of the period.[145]

The rare examples of marked Lung Ch’ing porcelain in our collections do not call for special comment, and the unmarked specimens will hardly be distinguished from the productions of the succeeding Wan Li period. There are, however, two boxes in the British Museum which may be regarded as characteristic specimens of the Imperial blue and white porcelains. Both are strongly made with thick but fine-grained body material and a glaze of slightly greenish tone; and the designs are boldly sketched in strong outline and washed in with a dark indigo blue. One is a square box with four compartments decorated with five-clawed dragons in cloud scrolls, extended or coiled in medallions according as space demanded; and the other is oblong and rectangular, and painted on the sides (the cover is missing) with scenes of family life (jên wu). In both cases the base is unglazed except for a sunk medallion in which the six characters of the Lung Ch’ing mark are finely painted in blue.