When in place of the wash of green (or may be of yellow) the background is formed by a black enamel, we still feel the prevailing influence of the green in the decoration, so that these black-ground vases are rightly included in the _famille verte_. The black background itself is often of a greenish quality, and in the designs the camellia-leaf green is predominant; yellow and purple are but sparingly introduced, but the effect is heightened by the white reserves (PL. X.). In many cases a wash of green appears to have been carried over the black ground. This green enamel may be often seen overlapping, as it were, on the foot of a vase.
It would be difficult to find in the whole range of Chinese porcelain anything more superbly decorative
than some of these large black-grounded vases in the Salting collection. We would call attention to one example on which the thin skin-like glaze of the dull ground and the somewhat archaic drawing of the great dragon that curls round the side suggest a date earlier than that of its companions (PL. XI.). And yet these fine vases are wanting in two elements which we are accustomed to regard as essential to the best porcelain: they neither display to any extent the natural white colour of the paste,[60] nor is the outline dependent on the motion of the clay under the potter’s hand. Nearly all these vases, as indeed most of the large vessels of this time, are built up from segments made in moulds.
What rich effects of colour are here obtained with a palette so restricted! Perhaps not a little of the beauty of this decoration is due to this very restriction. It will be noticed that we have in the more characteristic examples a total absence of all shades both of red and of blue.
In the other not less important division of the enamel decoration of this time these last two colours are added, and we come again to a pentad of colours--not, however, quite the same as the _wu-tsai_ of Wan-li times. We are still under the influence of the _famille verte_: the leafy green in two or more shades remains the predominant colour, the opaque red is used more sparingly than in the later Ming enamelled ware, and above all the cobalt blue is now used _as an enamel colour over the glaze_. This latter use points to an important advance in technique, and it affords an easy means of distinguishing the wares of the two periods. The new method of employing the blue is, however, often only to be recognised by close examination in a favourable light. What at once distinguishes the newer ware is rather the displacement of the opaque red of the Ming porcelain by the characteristic green of the Kang-he time as the _dominant_ colour. When this full complement of five colours is used, the general scheme of the design, however, follows more on the lines of the Wan-li ware; we find sprays of flowers or figure subjects relieved upon the white ground. But the drawing of the newer ware is somewhat more realistic, and there is generally a greater finish. In rare cases the five colours are combined with the black ground, as may be seen on two large vases in the British Museum, but the effect is not so happy as that obtained with a simpler range of colours.