From what has been said it will be inferred that the Chinese held in the highest admiration the beauty to be found in color alone. In producing it, they stand at the head of the ceramic artists of the world. The old white porcelain--that is, porcelain decorated with white, and not the undecorated ware--is by some considered the most ancient quality, and is most carefully preserved by the Chinese. It was decorated with designs either graved in the paste or painted in relief, or with figures inserted between two laminæ of paste. In the latter case the design remained invisible until the cup was filled with liquid. Others required to be held up to the light before the design revealed itself. The best white porcelain was made during the Song Dynasty (960-1278). Mention is made of white porcelain manufactured for the Emperor during the Wei Dynasty (A.D. 220-264), and we have already seen that white was the dynastic color of the Thang Dynasty (618-907), but little or nothing is directly known of these fabrics. That of the Song Dynasty was the Ting-yao, already referred to as one of the five great qualities of ancient porcelain. A cup (Fig. 101) of great beauty, very thin and transparent, in the collection of Mr. J. C. Runkle, gives a good idea of the old white. Its purity and brilliancy give a fine effect to the decoration in relief. The latter consists of small sprays of blossoms delicately moulded or carved, and showing through the clear glaze the finest touches of the modeller or carver. This is one of the methods followed in decorating the Ting porcelain with flowers, which were either graved in the paste, applied in relief, or painted. The white of the Yong-lo period (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty was also decorated with engravings in the paste. Toward the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, about 1380, a peculiar quality of white was made upon the same principle as the egg-shell, _i. e._, by grinding down the paste, by which means the piece assumed an unctuous, shining appearance. [Illustration: Fig. 101.--White Chinese Porcelain, with Blossom in Relief. (J. C. Runkle Coll.)]