But, it will be objected, the painting in foreign colours has been already shown to have been in full swing some years before T’ang’s appointment at Ching-tê Chên. The inconsistency is only apparent, however, for it is only claimed that T’ang introduced this style of painting on the Imperial porcelain, and it may--and indeed must--have been practised in the enamelling establishments at Canton and elsewhere for some time before. Indeed, when one comes to consider the list of T’ang innovations which we have discussed so far, they are mainly concerned with the adaptation of various foreign colours and of processes already in use in the previous reign. Of those which remain, the _t’ien lan_ or sky blue may perhaps be identified with a light blue verging on the tint of turquoise, a high-fired glaze found occasionally in the Ch’ien Lung monochromes. But probably the greatest of T’ang’s achievements was the mastery of the _yao pien_ or furnace transmutation glazes, which were a matter of chance as late as the end of the K’ang Hsi period. These are the variegated or _flambé_ glazes in which a deep red of _sang de bœuf_ tint is transformed into a mass of streaks and mottlings in which blue, grey, crimson, brown and green seem to be struggling together for pre-eminence. All these tints spring from one colouring agent--copper oxide--and they are called into being by a sudden change of the atmosphere of the kiln, caused by the admission of wood smoke at the critical moment and the consequent consumption of the oxygen. Without the transformation the glaze would be a _sang de bœuf_ red, and in many cases the change is only partial, and large areas of the deep red remain. Fig. 1 of Plate 123 illustrates a small but characteristic specimen of the Ch’ien Lung _flambé_. It will be found that in contrast with the K’ang Hsi _sang de bœuf_ these later glazes are more fluescent, and the excess of glaze overrunning the base has been removed by grinding. [Illustration: Plate 122.--White Porcelain with designs in low relief. Fig. 1.--Vase, peony scroll, _ju-i_ border, etc. Ch’ien Lung period. Height 7 inches. _O. Raphael Collection._ Fig. 2.--Bottle with “garlic mouth,” Imperial dragons in clouds. Creamy crackled glaze imitating Ting ware. Early eighteenth century. Height 9½ inches. _Salting Collection._ Fig. 3.--Vase with design of three rams, symbolising Spring. Ch’ien Lung period. Height 3½ inches. _W. Burton Collection._]