Fortunately, there are still to be found a fair number of authentic specimens of Chia Ching porcelain, but before considering these in the light of the Chinese descriptions, it will be helpful as well as extremely interesting to glance at the lists of actual porcelain vessels supplied to the palace at this time. From the eighth year of this reign, the annual accounts of the palace porcelains have been preserved in the Annals of Fou-liang, from which they were copied in the provincial topographies. Two of these lists (for the years 1546 and 1554) are quoted by Bushell,[106] and a general summary of them is given in the _T’ao shuo_.[107] To quote them in full here would take too much space, but the following notes may be useful to the reader, who, with his knowledge of the later porcelains, should have no difficulty in reconstructing for himself the general appearance of the court wares of the time. The actual objects[108] supplied consisted chiefly of fish bowls (_kang_), covered and uncovered jars (_kuan_), of which some were octagonal, bowls (_wan_), dinner bowls (_shan wan_) of larger size, saucer dishes (_tieh_) and round dishes (_p’an_), tea cups (_ch’a chung_), tea cups (_ou_), wine cups (_chiu chan_), and libation cups (_chüeh_) with hill-shaped saucers (_shan p’an_) to support their three feet, various vases (_p’ing_), slender ovoid jars for wine (_t’an_), ewers or wine pots (_hu p’ing_), and wine seas (_chiu hai_) or large bowls. A large number of complete dinner-table sets (_cho ch’i_) occur in one of the lists, and we learn from the _T’ao shuo_ that uniform sets with the same pattern and colours throughout were an innovation of the Ming dynasty. A set[109] comprised 27 pieces, including 5 fruit dishes (_kuo tieh_), 5 food dishes (_ts’ai tieh_), 5 bowls (_wan_), 5 vegetable dishes (_yün tieh_), 3 tea cups (_ch’a chung_), 1 wine cup (_chiu chan_), 1 wine saucer (_chiu tieh_), 1 slop receptacle (_cha tou_), and 1 vinegar cruse (_ts’u chiu_). The slop receptacle appears to have been a square bowl used for the remnants of food (see Plate 66, Fig. 1). The sacrificial vessels of the period included tazza-shaped bowls and dishes (_pien tou p’an_), large wine jars (_t’ai tsun_), with swelling body and monster masks for handles, “rhinoceros” jars (_hsi tsun_) in the form of a rhinoceros carrying a vase on its back, besides various dishes, plates, cups, and bowls of undefined form. The decorations are grouped in six headings:-- (1) Blue and white (_ch’ing hua pai ti_, blue ornament on a white ground), which is by far the largest.