Such, however, is the evolution of the _famille verte_ during the sixty years of the K’ang Hsi period, from the strong colours and forceful Ming-like designs of the earlier specimens to the mature perfection of the splendid wares made about 1700, and thence by a process of ultra-refinement to the later types in which breadth of treatment gives place to prettiness and the strong thick enamels to thinner washes of clear, delicate tints. These thin transparent colours continued in use; indeed, they are a feature of a special type of enamelling which will be discussed with the Yung Chêng wares; but the pure _famille verte_ may be said to have come to an end with the last years of the reign of K’ang Hsi. Later reproductions of course exist, for no style of decoration is ever wholly extinct in Chinese art, but they are merely revivals of an old style, which even before the end of the K’ang Hsi period had reached the stage of transition to another family. The opaque enamels of the _famille rose_ palette had already begun to assert themselves. Timid intruders at first--a touch of opaque pink, a little opaque yellow and arsenical white breaking in upon the old harmony of transparent tints--they gradually thrust the _famille verte_ enamels into a subsidiary position, and in the succeeding reigns rose pinks entirely dominate the field. A word must be said of the use of the _famille verte_ painting in combination with other types of decoration, in the subordinate position of border patterns or more prominently in panel designs. Exquisite effects are obtained by the latter in a ground of coral red, or where a brilliant powder blue field is broken by shapely panels with flowering plants and birds and other familiar vehicles for _famille verte_ colouring. Occasionally we find the enamels actually painted over a powder blue or an ordinary blue glaze, but the combination is more peculiar than attractive; for the underlying colour kills the transparent enamels, and the enamels destroy the lustre of the blue ground. Indeed, it is probable that in many cases these freak decorations were intended to hide a faulty background. A similar painting over the crackled green _lang yao_ glaze has already been described, and it occurs over the grey white crackles, and rarely but with much distinction, over a pale celadon glaze. But perhaps the most effective combination of this kind is that in which a pale lustrous brown or Nanking yellow is the ground colour. The quiet and refined effects of this union are well exhibited by a small group of vases, bowls, and dishes in the Salting Collection.