Among the purples and browns there are few changes to note, though much of the greenish brown crackle probably belongs to this time; and there is little to be said about the white wares except that both the true porcelain, whether eggshell or otherwise, and the opaque crackled wares of the Ting yao type were still made with exquisite refinement and finish. The uneven glaze surface, happily compared to “orange peel,” was much affected on the Ch’ien Lung whites in common with many other wares of the time. But there were many new enamel monochromes formed by blending the _famille rose_ colours, shades of opaque pink, lavender, French grey, and green, which are sometimes delicately engraved with close scroll patterns all over the surface, a type which is known by the clumsy name of _graviata_. These enamel grounds are often interrupted by medallions with underglaze blue or enamelled designs, as on the vase illustrated in Plate 125, Fig. 4, and on the so-called Peking bowls; or, again, they are broken by reserved floral designs which are daintily coloured in _famille rose_ enamels. But we are already drifting from the monochromes into the painted porcelains of the period, and we shall return to the Peking bowls presently. With regard to the Ch’ien Lung blue and white, little need be added to what was said of this kind of ware in the last chapter. It was still made in considerable quantity, and T’ang Ying, in his twenty descriptions of the manufacture of porcelain, supplies a commentary to three pictures[449] dealing with the “collection of the blue material,” “the selection of the mineral,” and “the painting of the round ware in blue.” From these we learn that large services were made in blue and white, and the decoration was still rigidly subdivided, one set of painters being reserved for the outlining of the designs and another for filling them in, while the plain blue rings were put on by the workman who finished the ware on the polishing wheel, and the inscriptions, marks and seals were added by skilful calligraphers. The blue material was now obtained in the province of Chêkiang, and close attention was paid to the selection of the best mineral. There was one kind of blue “called onion sprouts, which makes very clearly defined strokes, and does not run in the fire, and this must be used for the most delicate pieces.” This latter colour is to be looked for on the small steatitic porcelains and the fine eggshell cups.