white when empty, yet, by some
incomprehensible witchcraft of construction, seeming to swarm with
purple fish the moment they are filled with water;

Also the porcelains called _Yao-pien_, whose tints are transmuted by the
alchemy of fire; for they enter blood-crimson into the heat, and change
there to lizard-green, and at last come forth azure as the cheek of the
sky;

Also the _Ki-tcheou-yao_, which are all violet as a summer's night; and
the _Hing-yao_ that sparkle with the sparklings of mingled silver and
snow;

Also the _Sieouen-yao_,--some ruddy as iron in the furnace, some
diaphanous and ruby-red, some granulated and yellow as the rind of an
orange, some softly flushed as the skin of a peach;

Also the _Tsoui-khi-yao_, crackled and green as ancient ice is; and the
_Tchou-fou-yao_, which are the Porcelains of Emperors, with dragons
wriggling and snarling in gold; and those _yao_ that are pink-ribbed
and have their angles serrated as the claws of crabs are;

Also the _Ou-ni-yao_, black as the pupil of the eye, and as lustrous;
and the _Hou-tien-yao_, darkly yellow as the faces of men of India; and
the _Ou-kong-yao_, whose color is the dead-gold of autumn-leaves;

Also the _Long-kang-yao_, green as the seedling of a pea, but bearing
also paintings of sun-silvered cloud, and of the Dragons of Heaven;

Also the _Tching-hoa-yao_,--pictured with the amber bloom of grapes and
the verdure of vine-leaves and the blossoming of poppies, or decorated
in relief with figures of fighting crickets;

Also the _Khang-hi-nien-ts'ang-yao_, celestial azure sown with star-dust
of gold; and the _Khien-long-nien-thang-yao_, splendid in sable and
silver as a fervid night that is flashed with lightnings.

Not indeed the _Long-Ouang-yao_,--painted with the lascivious _Pi-hi_,
with the obscene _Nan-niu-sse-sie_, with the shameful _Tchun-hoa_, or
"Pictures of Spring"; abominations created by command of the wicked
Emperor Moutsong, though the Spirit of the Furnace hid his face and fled
away;

But all other vases of startling form and substance, magically
articulated, and ornamented with figures in relief, in cameo, in
transparency,--the vases with orifices belled like the cups of flowers,
or cleft like the bills of birds, or fanged like the jaws of serpents,
or pink-lipped as the mouth of a girl; the vases flesh-colored and
purple-veined and dimpled, with ears and with earrings; the vases in
likeness of mushrooms, of lotos-flowers,