We read in the _T’ao shuo_[142] that the Imperial factory was re-established in the sixth year of this reign (1572), and placed under the care of the assistant prefects of the district. This would seem to imply that for the greater part of this brief period the Imperial works had been in abeyance. Be this as it may, there was no falling off in the quantity of porcelain commanded for the Court, and the extravagant and burdensome demands evoked a protest from Hsü Ch’ih, the president of the Censorate,[143] in 1571. It was urged among other things that the secret of the copper red colour (_hsien hung_) had been lost, and that the potters should be allowed to use the iron red (_fan hung_) in its place: that the size and form of the large fish bowls which were ordered made their manufacture almost impossible: that the designs for the polychrome (_wu ts’ai_) painting were too elaborate, and that square boxes made in three tiers were a novelty difficult to construct. Fire and flood had devastated Ching-tê Chên, and many of the workmen had fled, and he (the president) begged that a large reduction should be made in the palace orders. We are not told whether this memorial to the emperor had the desired effect. In the case of the next emperor a similar protest resulted in a large reduction of the demands. But the document discloses several interesting facts, and among other things we learn that the designs for some of the ware and for the coloured decoration were still sent from the palace as in the days of Ch’êng Hua. The official lists of porcelain actually supplied to the Court of Lung Ch’ing have been briefly summarised in the _T’ao shuo_[144]; but they do not include any new forms, and the motives of decoration were in the main similar to those recorded in the Chia Ching lists. The following, however, may be added to the summary in the previous chapter:-- The _yü tsan hua_, rendered in Giles’s Dictionary as the “tuberose,” by Bushell as the “iris.” Clumps of chrysanthemum flowers. Interlacing scrolls of _mu-tan_ peony. _Ch’ang ch’un_ (long spring) flowers, identified by Bushell with the “jasmine.” A “joyous meeting,” symbolised according to Bushell by a pair of magpies. The Tartar pheasant (_chai chih_). The season flowers supporting the characters [chch 4] _ch’ien k’un ch’ing t’ai_, “Heaven and earth fair and fruitful!” Monsters (_shou_) in sea waves. Flying fish. Historical scenes (_ku shih_), as well as genre subjects (_jên wu_). Children playing with branches of flowers. This last design occurs both in the form of belts of foliage scrolls, among which are semi-nude boys, and of medallions with a boy holding a branch, on blue and white and polychrome wares of the late Ming period. But it is a design of considerable antiquity, and it is found engraved on the early Corean bowls which, no doubt, borrowed from Sung originals.