[Illustration: Plate 101.--Vase with panels of landscapes and _po ku_ symbols in _famille verte_ enamels In a ground of underglaze blue trellis pattern. K’ang Hsi period (1662–1722). Height 32 inches. _Dresden Collection._] [Illustration: Plate 102.--Two Dishes of _famille verte_ Porcelain in the _Dresden Collection_. K’ang Hsi period (1662–1722). Fig. 1.--With birds on a flowering branch, brocade borders. Artist’s signature in the field. Diameter 16 inches. Fig. 2.--With ladies on a garden terrace. Diameter 21 inches.] The familiar phrase, _famille verte_, was first used by Jacquemart as a class name for the enamelled porcelains on which green plays a leading part. According to this definition it should include the _Wan li wu ts’ai_, the Ming enamelled porcelain, as well as much of the on-biscuit enamelled wares, in addition to the typical K’ang Hsi enamelled porcelain to which usage has specially consecrated the term. A direct descendant of the _Wan li wu ts’ai_, the _famille verte_ includes the combinations of underglaze blue with the translucent on-glaze enamels green, yellow, and aubergine, and the coral red (derived from iron), the French _rouge de fer_, which is so thin that it resembles a pigment rather than a vitreous enamel. Add to these the brown black pigment, which is used to trace the outlines of the design and with a covering of green to form the green black, and we have one type of _famille verte_ which differs in no essential from the Wan Li prototype. It is, in fact, no easy matter to find the line which divides the two groups. The nature of the ware and the style of the painting are the best guides; and the study of the K’ang Hsi blue and white will be a great help in this delicate task. But the real K’ang Hsi _famille verte_, which we might call the _K’ang hsi wu ts’ai_, is distinguished by the addition of an overglaze blue enamel which enhanced the brilliancy of the colour scheme, and at the same time removed the necessity of using underglaze and overglaze colours together.[308] It is not to be supposed, however, that the underglaze blue disappeared entirely from the group. The old types were always dear to the Chinese mind, and there were frequent revivals of these in addition to the special wares,[309] such as the “Chinese Imari,” in which this kind of blue was essential. There are indeed examples of both blues on the same pieces. The history of this overglaze blue enamel has already[310] been partially discussed, and evidence has been given of its tentative use in the Wan Li porcelain. A passage in the second letter of Père d’Entrecolles[311] actually places its invention about the year 1700, but the worthy father’s chronology (based no doubt chiefly on hearsay) is often at fault. It is fairly certain, however, that the blue enamel was not used to any extent before the Ch’ing dynasty, owing no doubt to the fact that it had not been satisfactorily made until that date.