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- dominated by streaks and mottles in shades of blue and gray or sometimes brown and green.
In enamelled porcelain, the famille rose decorations of Qianlong�s reign are quite exquisite but are not always as precise and pleasing as in the Yongzheng period [90, xxiii].
In the latter part of Qianlong�s reign, a new type of bowl was introduced called Peking, medallion or graviata bowls. They were made to be given as imperial gifts, and became very popular in the succeeding reigns. They were covered with a monochrome enamel with incised scrolls (graviata) having four medallions left in white and painted with famille rose decorations [xxix].
The blue and white of this reign is carefully painted but lacks the vigour and beauty which distinguished the Kangxi wares [22, 24].
Another group of porcelains produced at this time were the result of a division of labour process. White porcelain made at Jingdezhen was shipped to Canton where it was embellished with motifs applied in pastel colours. They were known as �Canton enamel� wares.
The variety of Qing porcelain increased to unprecedented levels in Qianlong�s reign largely to fulfil the demands of a vast and lucrative export trade. The Europeans took advantage of the Chinese potters� willingness to make shapes to please their foreign customers and sent wooden and metal objects to the Chinese for copying in porcelain [25]. The Chinese also faithfully copied the coat-of-arms of some prominent European families on their export porcelain [93]. The foreigners also demanded rich and garish decorations on the export porcelain which had a degenerating effect on porcelain production.
Tang Ying remained as director of the porcelain manufactory until either 1749 or 1753. The great era of artistic innovation ended with his departure. Although the imperial factory continued to flourish until the end of the eighteenth century, it had already started on a slow but irreversible downward path. By the nineteenth century the decorations developed into a monotonous repetition giving a mechanical appearance. There was also an increasing tendency to overdecorate the objects, covering all the white areas with enamels.
Today the porcelain of the High Qing period (1662-1795) is held in high esteem throughout the world, and to some experts they are considered the most splendid ceramics ever crafted by man.
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