KANG-HE.--After the death of Wan-li, in 1619, there is a long gap in the history of Chinese porcelain. Some twenty years later, the last emperor of the native dynasty was driven out by the Manchu Tatars, and the dynasty which still reigns in the country was founded. But neither during the reign of the first emperor of the new Tsing or ‘Pure’ dynasty, nor indeed during the first part of the long reign of his great successor Kang-he (1661-1722), was much attention given to the imperial factory at King-te-chen. The early years of Kang-he’s reign were occupied with quelling the last efforts of the native Chinese party. We may date the revival of active work from the appointment of Tsang Ying-hsuan,[56] in the year 1683, to the post of superintendent at the porcelain works. It was then, after an interval of more than sixty years--almost a blank in the history of Chinese porcelain--that the great renaissance set in, and we may date from that time the beginning of the last great stage in that history--a stage which was to last for another hundred years. During that period a succession of able and enthusiastic men were in charge of the imperial works. With the support of the great emperors who ruled in China for three long generations, they were able to bring the manufacture of porcelain to a point of perfection reached neither before nor since, and to produce that wonderful series of vases, bowls, and plates that now fill the museums and private collections of Europe and America. It will perhaps be better to carry on our hasty historical sketch down to the period of decline at the end of the eighteenth century, before turning to the letters of the Père D’Entrecolles and his account of the great city of the potter--King-te-chen. We shall then be in a better position to understand the almost endless series of different wares that were turned out from the kilns of that town in the eighteenth century. We can finally make a rapid survey of the porcelain of China, picking up many threads that have been dropped in the course of our historical review. We have seen that the Chinese authorities when describing the coloured ware of the Ming period speak of two ‘triads’ of colours. One, the _turquoise_, purple and yellow group, we have identified with the ware painted on the biscuit and reheated in the _demi grand feu_; while the other, the _green_, purple and yellow class may be regarded as one of the earliest forms of true enamel or muffle decoration. These two classes were now in the earlier days of Kang-he brought to greater perfection, and as by this time we have come to a period when the finer wares began to be largely exported direct to Europe, we meet with many specimens of these wares in our collections.