In the _genre_ scenes, as in the case of the flower pieces, a realistic tendency is prominent. We have no longer the Taoist saints or the hunting and battle pieces of earlier times, but delicately executed interiors with graceful figures of girls arranging flowers or painting fans, or again, landscapes with men travelling by road or by river. There is a refinement of colour and a charm of drawing and composition in the better specimens of this somewhat effeminate school that appeals to every one. It is difficult for us to find any marked European influence in the designs of this time, and yet these pictures are classed by the Chinese as European in style; and it is not quite clear whether this refers only to the enamel colours employed or to the manner of drawing as well. Most of the work of this kind was doubtless made for the European market and painted at Canton. But is this the case with the finest examples? Kien-lung himself was, it would seem, no despiser of this carefully decorated ware. A poem of his composition, signed with the vermilion seal, is often found on this egg-shell porcelain. On some of the most highly finished of the little cups and plates we find an elaborate scroll decoration in gold and sometimes in silver; and in these designs we may perhaps trace the influence of the baroque style in vogue at this time in Europe. Nien resigned his post when his master in the year 1735 had ‘flown up to heaven like a dragon,’ and the new emperor, Kien-lung, appointed in his place Tang-ying, who had long served under him. The new director was no less an enthusiast than his predecessor. He tells us in his memoirs--for he was a man of literary taste like his master, Kien-lung--that he served his apprenticeship with the workmen, sharing his meals and his sleeping-room with them, following in this the proverb which says ‘the farmer may learn something from his bondman, and the weaver from the handmaid who holds the thread for her mistress.’ We hear that new tints of turquoise (_fei-tsui_) and of rose-red (_mei-kwei_) were introduced by him, and we may perhaps identify these colours with certain shades of pink and turquoise blue that became prevalent about this time. In both these cases the pigment is mixed with some amount of arsenic or tin so that the enamel is nearly opaque, and this enamel is now spread over the ground, taking the place of the glaze which lies beneath. The effect, though apparently admired by some collectors, is heavy and unpleasant. The pink, which we may consider as a Chinese equivalent of the _rose Pompadour_ (it is uncertain whether the French or the Chinese were the first to use the _rouge d’or_ colours), is generally more or less opaque, with a granular surface; it is often found covering a paste inscribed with fine scrolls.[67] [Illustration: _PLATE XIII._ CHINESE]