As to the antiquity of this decoration in China, I can find no evidence of its existence before the eighteenth century, and I am inclined to think it was even then a late development. There are two cups in the Hippisley Collection with apocryphal Hsüan Tê dates, but the majority of marked examples are Ch’ien Lung or later. Out of fourteen pieces in the Franks Collection five have the Ch’ien Lung mark, two have palace marks of the Tao Kuang period,[455] and one has a long inscription stating that it was made by Wang Shêng-Kao in the fourth month of 1798.[456] The rest are unmarked. The manufacture continues to the present day, and the same process has been freely used in Japan, where it is called _hotaru-de_, or firefly decoration. In this type of ornament the Chinese were long forestalled by the potters of Western Asia, for the rice-grain transparencies were used with exquisite effect in Persia and Syria in the twelfth century if not considerably earlier. It remains to mention a species of decoration which is not strictly ceramic. It consists of coating the porcelain biscuit with black lacquer in which are inlaid designs in mother-of-pearl, the _lac burgauté_ of the French (Plate 128, Fig. 3). This porcelain is known by the French name of _porcelaine laquée burgautée_, and it seems to have been originally a product of the Ch’ien Lung period; at any rate, I can find no evidence of its existence before the eighteenth century. In the Ch’ien Lung period Chinese porcelain reaches the high-water mark of technical perfection. The mastery of the material is complete. But for all that the art is already in its decline. By the middle of the reign it is already overripe, and towards the end it shows sure signs of decay. At its best the decoration is more ingenious than original, and more pretty than artistic. At its worst it is cloying and tiresome. The ware itself is perfectly refined and pure, but colder than the K’ang Hsi porcelain. The _famille rose_ painting is unequalled at its best for daintiness and finish, but the broken tints and miniature touches cannot compare in decorative value with the stronger and broader effects of the Ming and K’ang Hsi brushwork. The potting is almost perfect, but the forms are wanting in spontaneity; and the endless imitation of bronze shapes becomes wearisome, partly because the intricate forms of cast metal are not naturally suited to the ceramic material, and partly because the elaborate finish of the Ch’ien Lung wares makes the imitation of the antique unconvincing. In detail the wares are marvels of neatness and finish, but the general impression is of an artificial elegance from which the eye gladly turns to the vigorous beauty of the earlier and less sophisticated types. [Illustration: Plate 128.--Ch’ien Lung Porcelain. _British Museum._ Fig. 1.--Vase with “rice grain” ground and blue and white design. Height 7¾ inches. Fig. 2.--Vase with “lacework” designs. Ch’ien Lung mark. Height 7¾ inches.