As to the forms and styles of decoration of blue-and-white porcelain, they are too varied to permit of classification. Some of the finest shapes are to be found in this class, and also some of the most unique and curious. Beakers, with gracefully expanding necks alternate with clumsy pieces without any claim to beauty of form, and these, again, with such elegant shapes as the Lancelle (Fig. 85). The decoration includes every style known to Chinese art. On the Kouan-tse are dragons writhing in tortuous folds among the clouds or in the water, and flowers profusely scattered without any attempt at orderly disposal. On others are historical scenes, _lang lizen_--the long young ladies of Dutch traders--lace or lambrequin patterns, and many other designs. The palm-leaf is very effectively used. In a beaker in Mr. Runkle’s collection, the conical leaves are arranged round the body, whence they rise toward the top and descend toward the bottom, and thereby give emphasis to the shape as it expands to the lip and base. In such an arrangement the taste of the Chinese artist is infallible. The disposition of the decoration, which at first seems stiff and formal, is not only in harmony with the shape of the beaker, but is the only one by which its beauty of form could be fully brought out. When historical incidents are the subjects of the painting, the execution of the figures is admirable. It is in such pieces that we can best appreciate the accuracy of the artist, and his admirable control of his brush. He understands that a few judicious strokes may have a finer, and, by their suggestiveness, a fuller, effect than crowded detail and the most delicate shading. They show, further, that the art of decorating a vase with human figures consists in judgment as much as in execution. Thus, where the forms are distorted and the unity of the composition destroyed by the shape of the vase and the disposition of the figures, not only is the decoration unpleasing, but the artist fails in reaching the effect aimed at. These are faults of which the Chinese artists are seldom guilty, and their skill in overcoming the difficulties presented by the curves or angles of the object to be decorated can be better studied in a collection of blue-and-white than among the porcelain of any other family. When it is considered that only one color is employed, the diversity of the results is wonderful. In many cases this is effected by apparently varying the application of the pigment, and laying it on more thickly in some places than in others. We have seen this exemplified on a vase where the ornamentation was chiefly floral, and the flowers were painted so thinly as to give the effect of a distinct and paler shade of color. We have also seen pieces where the differences of shade were so regular and striking as to leave little doubt that two distinct qualities of blue were used.