The central ornament consisted chiefly of figures of sages or deities in rocky landscape, or seated under pine trees amid clouds, dragons in clouds, or beautiful lotus designs; and these were contained by various borders, such as floral scrolls, gadroons, _ju-i_ head patterns, fungus scrolls, and symbols hanging in jewelled pendants. As a rule, the larger areas of these vases are invested with a ground colour and the design filled in with contrasting tints. Sometimes the scheme of decoration includes several bands of ornament, and in this case--as on Plate 62--more than one ground colour is used. The _Po wu yao lan_ speaks of green (_ch’ing_) and dark blue (_lan_) grounds, and existing specimens indicate that the dark violet blue was the commonest ground colour. Next to this, turquoise blue is the most frequently seen; but besides these there is a dark variety of the violet which is almost black, and another which is dark brown, both of which colours are based on cobaltiferous oxide of manganese. It has already been observed that this type of decoration was frequently used on a pottery body as well as on porcelain. The question of the antiquity of the above method of polychrome decoration is complicated by the contradictory accounts which Dr. Bushell has given of a very celebrated example, the statuette of the goddess Kuan-yin in the temple named Pao kuo ssŭ at Peking. The following reference to this image occurs in the _T’ung ya_, published in the reign of Ch’ung Chêng (1625–1643): “The Chün Chou transmutation wares (_yao pien_) are not uncommon to-day. The Kuan-yin in the Pao kuo ssŭ is a _yao pien_.” Dr. Bushell, who visited the temple several times, gives a minute description of the image, which contains the following passage[43]: “The figure is loosely wrapped in flowing drapery of purest and bluest turquoise tint, with the wide sleeves of the robe bordered with black and turned back in front to show the yellow lining; the upper part of the cloak is extended up behind over the head in the form of a plaited hood, which is also lined with canary yellow.” To the ordinary reader, such a description would be conclusive. A fine example of Ming porcelain, he would say, decorated with the typical coloured glazes on the biscuit. Bushell’s comment, however, is that the “colours are of the same type as those of the finest flower pots and saucers of the Chün Chou porcelain of the Sung dynasty.” It should be said that the temple bonzes insist that they can trace the origin of the image back to the thirteenth century. If these are indeed the typical Chün Chou glazes, then all our previous information on that factory, including Bushell’s own contributions, is worthless. In another work,[44] however, the same writer states that it (the image in question) is “really enamelled in 'five colours’--turquoise, yellow, crimson, red brown and black.” This is precisely what we should have expected, and it can only be imagined