It will be well to give just a little time to a summary of the colours which are used on Oriental porcelain of all kinds, first in the under-glaze blue and red, second in the single colour glazes, including all those which are known by the terms splashed, variegated, transmuted, or _flammé_ or _flambé_. Preserving the same order set out in the colour enamels which are used in over-glaze decorations, we find that the blacks, as before stated, were three in number--a common dull black, a mirror or metallic black, and the first of these covered by a thin transparent green glaze, so as to make a shining black. The dull black was produced from manganese which had some impurities in it, whilst the mirror black was made of manganese having cobalt in it mixed with white glaze and an earth containing iron.
The various greens, such as the dark green or _gros vert_, sea-green or Celadon, apple-green, emerald-green, pea-green, cucumber, and snake-skin were all derived from iron, copper, and a little cobalt.
[Illustration: PEACH-BLOOM, OR PEACH-BLOW.
The under-glaze reds belonging to the Celadon class differ from the under-glaze painted reds. The Celadon colours are applied in and with the glaze, and the other class is, like under-glaze blue, painted on the biscuit china and then glazed. The range of Celadon reds is very great, from "Peach-blow," commonly termed "Peach-bloom," to "_sang de bœuf_." About sixteen of these beautiful shades are within this range. "Peach-blow" is used as a self-colour glaze, covering the whole of the piece, but, like all other colours, it is employed also with other coloured glazes in the decoration of porcelain--white or Celadon. Dr. Bushell describes peach-blow as "a pale red, becoming pink in some parts; in others, mottled with russet spots displayed upon a background of light green Celadon tint." This and many other colours were invented by Ts'ang Yeng-hsüan, the director of the Imperial works towards the end of Kang-he's reign. Around the feet of many fine vases of the Yung-Ching period there are waves in this darkish red, with occasional flecks of green. In these cases the body of the vases is white. Examples occur where peach-blow is used as a Celadon colour in pieces decorated with blue under the glaze.