Motives borrowed from the animal world are frequent on porcelain, though they represent to a large extent mythical creatures, first and foremost of which is the dragon. We need not enter into the conflicting theories as to the origin of the Chinese dragon. Whether he sprang from some prehistoric monster whose remains had come to light, or was evolved from the crocodile, he appears in any case to have belonged to Nature-worship as the power of the storm and the bringer of fertilising rain. There, are, however, various kinds of dragons--those of the air, the sea, the earth--and the monster takes many different forms in Chinese art. The archaic types borrowed by the porcelain decorators from ancient bronzes and jades are the _k’uei lung_ [chch 2] or one-legged dragon, and the _ch’ih lung_ [chch 2], the former a tapir-like creature which is said to have been, like the _t’ao t’ieh_, a warning against greed,[507] the latter a smooth, hornless reptile of lizard-like form with divided tail, who is also described as a _mang_. But the dragon (_lung_) _par excellence_ is a formidable monster with “bearded, scowling head, straight horns, a scaly, serpentine body, with four feet armed with claws, a line of bristling dorsal spines, and flames proceeding from the hips and shoulders.” Such is the creature painted by the great master of dragon painting, Chang Sêng-yu, of the sixth century, and as such he is the emblem of Imperial power and the device of the Emperor. The Imperial dragon in the art of the last two dynasties has been distinguished by five claws on each of his four feet[508]; the four-clawed dragon was painted on wares destined for personages of lesser rank. The dragons are usually depicted flying in clouds, and pursuing the disc or pearl, which was discussed above, or rising from waves. Nine dragons form a decoration specially reserved for the Emperor; and on the palace porcelain the dragon and the phœnix (_fêng_) frequently appear together as emblems of the Emperor and Empress.