But European influence must now and then have made itself felt in China before this time, to judge by some large jars at Dresden decorated with arabesques of unmistakable renaissance type. One of these has been fitted with a lid of Delft ware, made to match the other covers of Chinese origin, and this Dutch-made lid cannot be dated later than the first half of the seventeenth century.[99] But it is to the next age that the bulk of the vast collection of blue and white brought together at Dresden by Augustus the Strong belongs. The _lange Lijzen_, the famous dragon-vases, the large fish-bowls, and the endless series of smaller objects collected by his agents from every side, have made this royal collection a place of pilgrimage for all china maniacs since his day. Not that the general average of the blue and white ware is very high. We find here for the first time specimens of the famous ‘hawthorn ginger-jars’ so dear to later collectors of ‘Nankin china.’ Of course this porcelain did not come from Nankin, the jars were never used for ginger, and the decoration was not derived from the hawthorn--a flower unknown in Chinese art. But it is in these jars that the modern connoisseur, both in England and America, has found the completest expression and highest triumph of the art of the Far East. No words are too strong to express his enthusiasm. We are especially told to look for a certain ‘palpitating quality’ in the blue ground. We hear from Dr. Bushell that these ‘hawthorn jars’ are in China especially associated with the New Year; filled with various objects they are then given as presents. The decoration of prunus flowers (a species allied to our blackthorn) is relieved against a background of ice, and it is the rendering of this crackled ice in varying shades of blue that gives the special _cachet_ to the ware.[100] There is a curious variety of blue and white in which the outline of the design is filled up by a hatching of cross-lines as in an engraving. The prototype of this kind of decoration probably dates from Ming times, and it may possibly be derived from some kind of textile. ENAMEL COLOURS OVER THE GLAZE.--We have already attempted to follow the stages by which the application of enamel colours over the glaze found its way into general use. We saw that before the introduction of fusible enamels melting at the gentle heat of the muffle-stove, somewhat similar effects were obtained by painting with certain colours upon the already fired body or paste--on a biscuit ground, in fact. The coloured slip used in this way, differing in no respect from a true glaze, was then subjected to a fire of medium intensity, that is to say, it was exposed to the _demi grand feu_ of the kiln.