There was, indeed, at this time a rage for imitating other substances in porcelain, which was doubtless fostered by the increased command of technical processes and of new colours. A good deal of the porcelain covered with black or sometimes brown lacquer,[69] inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the _laque burgauté_ of the French, dates perhaps from an earlier period. But the little snuff-bottles, imitating jade, pudding-stone, agate, turquoise, as well as silver, gold, and bronze of varied patinas, or again the rusted surface of iron--to say nothing of wood, bamboo, and mother-of-pearl--may, with few exceptions, be attributed to this time. We may compare such work to the contemporary triumphs of the Japanese in lacquer.[70] But by the middle of the century it is no longer the demand of the court that gives the general tone to the productions of King-te-chen. The taste for Oriental wares had spread among the middle classes in Europe. The English were taking the place of the Dutch as the principal exporters, and this change was reflected in a demand for a gaudy ware crowded with a motley array of figures, the ‘mandarin china’ properly so called. As to the extensive class of porcelain painted with coats-of-arms and other European designs, a class well represented in the British Museum, we will only mention that the greater part was decorated at this time by a special school of artists at Canton, though some pieces date from a somewhat earlier period. KIA-KING (1795-1820), the son and successor of Kien-lung, was like his father a poet, but a man of weak and dissolute character. The high finish of the previous reign was, however, maintained, and the pieces marked with this emperor’s name are sought after by Chinese collectors. TAO-KWANG (1820-1850).--It is surprising that so much really good porcelain was made at a time so troubled by foreign wars and internal rebellion. In some of the blue and white ware of this and even the next reign, we may sometimes see a return to the breadth and boldness of treatment characteristic of earlier days. In the coral-red grounds of this time, the intractable iron oxide appears to have been more thoroughly incorporated with the glaze than at any previous period. It is to this reign that we may assign the ‘Pekin’ or ‘Graviata’ bowls, with reserved panels on the outside filled with flowers, landscapes, etc., in many coloured enamels. The ground is often of a pinkish _rouge d’or_, or in other instances of lemon yellow, blue or pale lavender. The inside of the bowl has a decoration of blue and white. HSIEN-FENG (1850-61).--As at the beginning of this emperors reign the Taiping rebels broke into Kiang-si and burned down the town of King-te-chen, this period is of necessity a blank in the history of porcelain.