FOOTNOTES:
[2] fêng huo. Bushell renders “blast furnaces.”
lan kuang, lit. “burn tube.” Omitting the radical
(huo, fire) in both cases, Bushell takes the characters as lan (blue) and huang (yellow). Possibly Bushell’s edition had variant readings.
[4] Bk. vii., fol. 25 recto.
[5] Or, perhaps, “greenish black,” taking the two words together.
lit. “omit body.” A slightly thicker porcelain is known as pan t’o t’ai, or “half bodiless.”
ts’ai chui. These words seem to have been taken to mean “decorated with an awl”; but they are better translated separately to mean “bright coloured” and “(engraved with) an awl,” the suggestion being that ts’ai refers to enamelled porcelain.
[8] Bk. ii., fol. 8 verso.
Ya shou pei, lit. “press hand cups.”
[10] “Made in the Yung Lo period of the great Ming dynasty.”
[11] The reading in the British Museum copy is
pai (white), which seems to be an error for
ssŭ (four): taken as it stands, it would mean written in white slip.
hua, lit. “slippery.” The meanings include “polished, smooth, ground,” etc., from which it will be seen that the word could equally refer to a glazed surface or an unglazed surface which had been polished on the wheel.
[13] This conical form of bowl was by no means new in the Ming period. In fact, we are told in the T’ao shuo that it is the p’ieh of the Sung dynasty, the old form of tea bowl. See vol. i, p. [175].
[14] There are several others of this type in Continental museums; cf. Zimmermann, op. cit. Plate 23.
[15] Cat., F 6.
[16] Bk. v., fol. 5.
[17] Bk. ii., fol. 8.
[18] pa pei, lit. handle cups. This type, as illustrated in Hsiang’s Album (op. cit., No. 54) is a shallow cup or tazza on a tall stem which was grasped by the hand.
[19] An example of the figure subjects on Hsüan Tê blue and white is given in the T’ao shuo, “teacups decorated with figures armed with light silk fans striking at flying fire-flies”; see Bushell’s translation, op. cit., p. 136.
[20] “Citron dishes” are specially mentioned in the Wên chên hêng ch’ang wu chi (T’ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 4).
[21] Ch’ang k’ou, lit. “shed mouth.”
[22] Lit. “pot-bellied.”
[23] Lit. “cauldron (fu) base.”
[24] an hua, secret decoration (see p. [6]).
[25] “Made in the Hsüan Tê period of the great Ming dynasty.”
[26] Lit. “orange-peel markings (chü p’i wên) rise in the glaze.”
[27] i.e. red lines coloured by rubbing ochre into the cracks. See vol. i, p. [99].
[28] O. C. A., p. 371.
[29] Unfortunately the term pao shih hung has been loosely applied in modern times to the iron red. See Julien, op. cit., p. 91 note: “Among the colours for porcelain painting which M. Itier brought from China and offered to the Sèvres factory, there is one called pao shih hung, which, from M. Salvétat’s analysis, is nothing else but oxide of iron with a flux.” In other words, it is a material which should have been labelled fan hung. This careless terminology has led to much confusion.
[30] T’ao lu, bk. v., fol. 7 recto.
[31] The Ch’ing pi tsang mentions “designs of flowers, birds, fish and insects, and such like forms” as typical ornaments on the red painted Hsüan porcelain.
[32] The three fruits (san kuo) are the peach, pomegranate, and finger citron, which typify the Three Abundances of years, sons and happiness.
[33] Wu fu. This may, however, be emblematically rendered by five bats, the bat (fu) being a common rebus for fu (happiness).
[35] According to Bushell, O. C. A., p. 130, “cobalt blue, as we learn from the official annals of the Sung dynasty (Sung shih, bk. 490, fol. 12), was brought to China by the Arabs under the name of wu ming yi.” This takes it back to the tenth century. Wu ming yi (nameless rarity) was afterwards used as a general name for cobalt blue, and was applied to the native mineral. The name was sometimes varied to wu ming tzŭ. Though we are not expressly told the source of the su-ni-p’o blue, it is easily guessed. For the Ming Annals (bk. 325) state that among the objects brought as tribute by envoys from Sumatra were “precious stones, agate, crystal, carbonate of copper, rhinoceros horn, and
hui hui ch’ing (Mohammedan blue).” See W. P. Groeneveldt, Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, vol. xxxix., p. 92. These envoys arrived in 1426, 1430, 1433, 1434, and for the last time in 1486. Sumatra was a meeting-place of the traders from East and West, and no doubt the Mohammedan blue was brought thither by Arab merchants. Possibly some of the mineral was brought back by the celebrated eunuch Chêng Ho, who led an expedition to Sumatra in the Yung Lo period. See also p. [30].
[36] See Cat. B. F. A., 1910, L 23; a pilgrim bottle belonging to Mrs. Halsey, inscribed after export to India with the word Alamgir, a name of the famous Aurungzib. Cf. also the fine cylindrical vase in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Case 2), with floral scrolls in this type of blue combined with underglaze red, and the Hsüan Tê mark.
[37] Op. cit., Nos. 9, 31, 37, 39, 48, 69 and 83.
[38] Hui hu is a variant for hui hui (Mohammedan).
[39] Probably due to over-firing.
[40] On the parallelism between this type of porcelain decoration and cloisonné enamel, see Burlington Magazine, September, 1912, p. 320. It is worthy of note that missing parts of these vases, such as neck rim or handles, are often replaced by cloisonné enamel on metal, which is so like the surrounding porcelain that the repairs are often overlooked.
[41] The yellow of this group is usually of a dull, impure tint, but there is a small jar in the Peters Collection in New York on which the yellow is exceptionally pure and brilliant, and almost of lemon colour.
[42] In these cases the porcelain would be first fired without glaze and the colours added when it was in what is called the “biscuit” state. In the blue and white ware, on the other hand, and the bulk of Chinese glazed porcelain, body and glaze were baked together in one firing.
[43] Bushell, O. C. A., p. 152.
[44] Translation of the T’ao shuo, op. cit., p. 51.
[45] This is the verdict of the Po wu yao lan, and it is repeated in the T’ao lu, see Bushell, op. cit., p. 60.
[46] Painted decoration is mentioned in Chiang’s Memoir of the Yüan dynasty (see vol. i, p. [160]), but without any particulars; and the Ko ku yao lun speaks of wu sê decoration of a coarse kind at the end of the Yüan period (see vol. i, p. [161]). The latter may, of course, refer to the use of coloured glazes.
[47] Op. cit., fig. 77.
[48] The application of these enamels in large washes puts them practically in the category of glazes, but for the sake of clearness it is best to keep the terminology distinct. After all, the difference between a high-fired glaze which is applied to the biscuit and a low-fired enamel applied in the same way is only one of degree, but if we use the term enamel or enamel-glaze for the colours fired in the muffle kiln as distinct from those fired in the porcelain kiln, it will save further explanations.
[49] A late Ming writer quoted in the T’ao lu (bk. viii., fol. 18) says, “At the present day Hsüan ware cricket pots are still very greatly treasured. Their price is not less than that of Hsüan Ho pots of the Sung dynasty.”
[50] Bushell, op. cit., p. 140.
[51] Po wu yao lan, bk. ii., fol. 9 verso.
hsien. The emperor Ch’êng Hua was canonised as Hsien Tsung.
ch’ien tan. The T’ao shuo, quoting this passage, uses a variant reading, ch’ien shên
, which Bushell renders “whether light or dark.”
[55] yu hua i, lit. “have the picture idea.”
[56] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 385.
[57] See Hsiang’s Album, op. cit., fig. 38.
[58] Bk. vi., fols. 7–9, and Bushell’s translation, op. cit., pp. 141–3.
[59] Op. cit., fig. 55.
[60] Burlington Magazine, December, 1912, pp. 153–8.
[61] The author of the P’u shu t’ing chi (Memoirs of the Pavilion for Sunning Books), quoted in the T’ao shuo, loc. cit.
[62] Op. cit., fig. 64.
[63] Bushell (T’ao shuo, p. 142) gives the misleading version, “bowls enamelled with jewels” and “jewel-enamelled bowls,” omitting in his translation the note in the text which explains their true meaning as pao shih hung or ruby red.
ts’ao ch’ung can equally well mean “plants and insects” or “grass insects,” i.e. grasshoppers. In fact, Julien translated the phrase in the latter sense.
[65] Chin hui tui, lit. brocade ash-heaps.
[66] Not as Bushell (T’ao shuo, op. cit., p. 143), “medallions of flower sprays and fruits painted on the four sides”; ssŭ mien (lit. four sides) being a common phrase for “on all sides” does not necessarily imply a quadrangular object.
[67] Shih nü, strangely rendered by Bushell “a party of young girls.”
[68] The dragon boats raced on the rivers and were carried in procession through the streets on the festival of the fifth day of the fifth month. See J. J. M. de Groot, Annales du Musée Guimet, vol. xi., p. 346. A design of children playing at dragon boat processions is occasionally seen in later porcelain decoration.
[69] Cf. the favourite design of children under a pine-tree on Japanese Hirado porcelain.
[70] Op. cit., figs. 38, 49, 55, 56, 63, 64, 65, 66 and 76.
Bushell has translated it “diffused colours,” but fu is also used for “applying externally” in the medicinal sense, which seems specially appropriate here.
, lit. “fill up (with) glaze,” the colour of the glaze being specified in each case. Cf. lan ti t’ien hua wu ts’ai (blue ground filled up with polychrome painting), a phrase used to describe the decoration of the barrel-shaped garden seats of the Hsüan Tê period. See p. [17].
[73] Fig. 63, a cup in form like the chicken cups (chi kang).
ch’i shang.
[75] Op. cit., Plate ii.
[76] See E. Dillon, Porcelain, Plate xviii.
[77] See E. Dillon, Porcelain, Plate vii.
[78] See Cat, B. F. A., 1910, H 21, I 7.
.
.
[83] Op. cit., No. 42.
, delicate, beautiful.
.
.
[90] This account is quoted from the Shih wu kan chu, published in 1591.
[92] See Hirth, China and the Roman Orient, p. 179.
[93] The converse is equally true, and Chinese porcelain of this kind is frequently classed among Persian wares. Indeed, there are not a few who would argue that these true porcelains of the hard-paste type were actually made in Persia. No evidence has been produced to support this wholly unnecessary theory beyond the facts which I have mentioned in this passage, and the debated specimens which I have had the opportunity to examine were all of a kind which no one trained in Chinese ceramics could possibly mistake for anything but Chinese porcelain.
[94] This peculiarity occurs on a tripod incense vase in the Eumorfopoulos Collection, which in other respects resembles this little group, but it is a peculiarity not confined to the Chêng Tê porcelain, for I have occasionally found it on much later wares.
[95] A somewhat similar effect is seen on the little flask ascribed to the Hsüan Tê period. See p. [14].
[96] Op. cit., Nos. 52 and 80. These are the latest specimens which are given by Hsiang Yüan-p‘ien.
[97] Cat., H 8.
[98] A similar vase is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
hsien hung t’u, lit. “the earth for the fresh red,” an expression which would naturally refer to the clay used in making ware of this particular colour, though Bushell has preferred to take it in reference to the mineral used to produce the colour itself. See p. [123].
[100] Bk. ii., fol. 10.
[101] A Ming writer quoted in the T’ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 4, adds that these cups were marked under the base
chin lu (golden seal),
ta chiao (great sacrifice),
t’an yung (altar use).
[102] Ch’ing k’ou, lit. mouth like a gong or sounding stone.
[103] Man hsin, lit. loaf-shaped centre.
[104] Yüan tsu, lit. foot with outer border.
[105] An extract from the I Chih (quoted in the T’ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 14) states that “in the 26th year of Chia Ching, the emperor demanded that vessels should be made with 'fresh red’ (hsien hung) decoration; they were difficult to make successfully, and Hsü Chên of the Imperial Censorate, memorialised the throne, requesting that red from sulphate of iron (fan hung) be used instead.” A memorial of similar tenor was sent to the emperor by Hsü Ch’ih in the succeeding reign.
[106] O. C. A., pp. 223–6.
[107] Bk. vi., fols. 9–15. See also Bushell’s translation op. cit., pp. 145–51, and O. C. A., loc. cit.
[108] Some idea of the quantity supplied may be gathered from the following items in the list for the year 1546: 300 fish bowls, 1,000 covered jars, 22,000 bowls, 31,000 round dishes (p’an), 18,400 wine cups.
[109] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 226.
[110] There are examples of this work in the British Museum, in which the blue seems to have been sponged on or washed on, and the decoration picked out with a needlepoint, and then the whole covered with a colourless glaze.
[111] hsiang yün, lit. felicitous clouds.
t’ieh chin, lit. stuck-on gold.
[113] O. C. A., p. 221.
t’ien pai, a phrase frequently used in this sense, though it is not quite obvious how it derives this meaning from its literal sense of “sweet white.”
[115] See p. [34]. The fan hung is an overglaze colour of coral tint, derived from oxide of iron; the hsien hung is an underglaze red derived from oxide of copper.
[116] jang hua, lit. “abundant or luxuriant ornament.” Embossed is Bushell’s rendering.
[117] See Bushell’s translation, op. cit., p. 151.
.
ling chih, a species of agaric, at first regarded as an emblem of good luck, and afterwards as a Taoist emblem of immortality.
[121] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 563.
shih tzŭ. The mythical lion is a fantastic animal with the playful qualities of the Pekingese spaniel, which it resembles in features. In fact the latter is called the lion dog (shih tzŭ k’ou), and the former is often loosely named the “dog of Fo (Buddha),” because he is the usual guardian of Buddhist temples and images.
ts’ang, azure or hoary.
[124] Named by Bushell mackerel, carp., marbled perch, and another.
.
chün, a fleet horse.
[127] Translation of the T’ao shuo (p. [145]).
[128] O. C. A., p. 227.
.
[130] See Laufer, Jade, p. 120.
[131] See Mayers, part ii., p. 335.
[132] hua
. Bushell (T’ao shuo, p. 146) has rendered this with “flowers and inscriptions, etc.” In many cases in these lists it is almost impossible to say whether the word hua has the sense of flowers or merely decoration. The present passage fu shou k’ang ning hua chung seems to demand the second interpretation.
[133] This dark blue Chia Ching ware was carefully copied at the Imperial factory in the Yung Chêng period. See p. [203].
[134] See J. Böttger, Philipp Hainhofer und der Kunstschrank Gustav Adolfs in Upsala, Stockholm, 1909, Plate 71. The same interesting collection includes a marked Wan Li dish with cloud and stork pattern in underglaze blue, two cups, and a set of Indian lacquer dishes with centres made of the characteristic Chinese export porcelain described on p. [70].
[135] Cat B. F. A., D 17.
[136] A good example of this colouring is a large bowl with Chia Ching mark in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin.
[138] Figured in F. Dillon, Porcelain, Plate v.
[139] Bk. v., fol. 9 recto.
. Ts’ui is a fairly common name. It occurs as a mark on a small figure of an infant in creamy white ware of Ting type in the Eumorfopoulos Collection; but it is highly improbable that this piece has anything to do with the Mr. Ts’ui here in question.
[141] The Ming ch’ên shih pi chou chai yü t’an, quoted in the T’ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 4, says, “When we come to Chia Ching ware then there are also imitations of both Hsüan Tê and Ch’êng Hua types (they even are said to excel them). But Mr. Ts’ui’s ware is honoured in addition, though its price is negligible, being only one-tenth of that of Hsüan and Ch’êng wares.”
[142] Bk. iii., fol. 7.
[143] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 235.
[144] Bk. vi., fol. 16, and Bushell’s translation, p. 152.
[145] See Ming ch’ên shih pi chou chai yü t’an (quoted in T’ao lu, bk. viii., cf. 4 verso): “For Mu Tsung (i.e. Lung Ch’ing) loved sensuality, and therefore orders were given to make this kind of thing; but as a matter of fact 'Spring painting’ began in the picture house of Prince Kuang Chüan of the Han dynasty....”
[146] See T’ao lu, bk. viii., fols. 10 and 11, quoting from the Ts’ao t’ien yu chi.
[147] T’ang ying lung kang chi, quoted in the T’ao lu, bk. viii., fols. 11 and 12.
[148] Chao was supposed to have displayed superhuman skill in the manufacture of pottery in the Chin dynasty (265–419 A.D.).
[149] Bk. v., fol. 8.
[150] For explanation of these terms, see p. [10].
[151] Bushell’s rendering, “cups and saucers,” is misleading if not verbally incorrect.
[152] These are Bushell’s renderings.
ssŭ hsŭ t’ou, a phrase which would more usually refer to the beard than the hair of the head. The above rendering is Bushell’s.
.
.
.
. There is an allusion in this name to the story of Hu Kung, a magician of the third and fourth centuries, who was credited with marvellous healing powers. Every night he disappeared, and it was found at length that he was in the habit of retiring into a hollow gourd which hung from the door post. See A. E. Hippisley, Catalogue of a Collection of Chinese Porcelains, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, 1900. Hao’s porcelain is also known as Hu kung yao (the ware of Mr. Pots).
[158] See T’ao lu, bk. v., fol. 10, and bk. viii., fol. 7, and T’ao shuo, bk. vi., fol. 26.
luan mu, “the curtain inside the egg,” which conveys the idea of extreme tenuity better than the most usual expression, “egg shell” porcelain.
[160] Half a chu.
.
[162] Tzŭ chin. Golden brown with reddish tinge (tzŭ chin tai chu), accurately describes one kind of stoneware tea pots made at Yi-hsing (p. [177]); but it is not stated whether Hao’s imitations were in stoneware or porcelain.
[163] An allusion to the celebrated orchid pavilion at Kuei-chi, in Chêkiang, the meeting place of a coterie of scholars in the fourth century. The scene in which they floated their wine cups on the river has been popularised in pictorial art. See Plate [104] Fig. 1.
.
[165] The K’ao p’an yü shih.
[166] Bk. vi., fol. 16 recto.
[168] Bk. v., fol. 10 verso, under the heading, Hsiao nan yao (Little South Street wares).
, apparently referring to the size of the vessels and not necessarily implying that they were shaped like a frog. On the other hand, small water vessels in the form of a frog have been made in China from the Sung period onwards.
.
[171] A similar ewer in Dr. Seligmann’s collection is marked with one of the trigrams of the pa kua.
[172] Cat., L 24.
[173] Cat., E 19–25.
[174] Denkmäler Persischer Baukunst, Plate lii., Text p. 41 and Fig. 44.
[175] The same emperor showed his appreciation for Chinese ceramics by importing a number of Chinese potters into Persia. See p. [30].
[176] It is recorded that the Emperor Wan Li sent presents of large porcelain jars to the Mogul Emperor, and it is likely that similar presents had arrived at the Persian Court.
[177] Cat., Case X, No. 245, and Plate xv.
[178] Burlington Magazine, October, 1910, p. 40.
[179] See Franks Catalogue, No. 763.
[180] Burlington Magazine, March, 1913, p. 310. See also Hainhofer und der Kunstschrank Gustav Adolfs, op. cit., Plate [69], where a set of dishes of India lacquer is illustrated, each mounted in the centre with a roundel of this type of porcelain. These dishes are mentioned in a letter dated 1628.
[181] Numbered 1191 and 1192. A number of other painters who have introduced these Chinese porcelains into their work are named by Mr. Perzynski (Burlington Magazine, December, 1910, p. 169).
[183] C 5–7.
[184] Cat., No. 112D.
[185] Burlington Magazine, December, 1910, p. 169.
[186] The figures sometimes stand out against a background coloured with washes of green, yellow and aubergine glaze. See Plate 82, Fig. 2.
[190] I have seen occasional specimens with the Wan Li mark.
[192] Cat., J 21.
[193] Cat., A 33. In the Lymans Collection in Boston there are several examples of this ware, including specimens with dark and light coffee brown grounds and a jar in blue and white.
[194] A collection of these is in the British Museum, and they include many types of late Ming export porcelains.
[195] Cat. B. F. A., K 37.
[196] A jar with vertical bands of ornament in a misty underglaze red of pale tint in the Eumorfopoulos collection probably belongs to this period. Though technically unsuccessful, the general effect of the bold red-painted design is most attractive.
[198] Cat., J 16.
[199] There is a whole case full of them in the celebrated Dresden collection, a fact which is strongly in favour of a K’ang Hsi origin for the group.
[200] Eight Precious Things. See p. [299].
[202] The fact that the enamellers’ shops at Ching-tê Chên to this day are known as hung tien (red shops) points to the predominance of this red family in the early history of enamelled decorations.
[207] H 17, exhibited by Mr. G. Eumorfopoulos.
[210] Other saucers of this kind have a decoration of radiating floral sprays, and there are bowls of a familiar type with small sprays engraved and filled in with coloured glazes in a ground of green or aubergine purple. Some of these have a rough biscuit suggesting the late Ming period; others of finer finish apparently belong to the K’ang Hsi period. They often have indistinct seal marks, known as “shop marks,” in blue.
[211] Burlington Magazine, December, 1910, p. 169, and March, 1913, p. 311.
[212] Figured in Monkhouse, op. cit., Fig. 2. The date of the mount is disputed, some authorities placing it at the end of the sixteenth century.
[213] Figured by Perzynski, Burlington Magazine, March, 1913. A vase of this style with tulip design in the palace at Charlottenburg has a cyclical date in the decoration, which represents 1639 or 1699 (probably the former) in our chronology.
pai tun tzŭ white blocks.
[215] A sixteenth-century work. See p. [2].
[216] Many observers positively assert that the grooved foot rim does not occur on pre-K’ang Hsi porcelain. If this is true, it provides a very useful rule for dating; but the rigid application of these rules of thumb is rarely possible, and we can only regard them as useful but not infallible guides.
[217] Quoted in T’ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 6.
[218] fu ti.
[219] Man hsin.
[220] See T’ao shuo, bk. iii., fol. 7 verso. “Among other things the porcelain with glaze lustrous and thick like massed lard, and which has millet grains rising like chicken skin and displays palm eyes (tsung yen) like orange skin, is prized.” The expression “palm eyes” occurring by itself in other contexts has given rise to conflicting opinions, but its use here, qualified by the comparison with orange peel and in contrast with the granular elevations, points clearly to some sort of depressions or pittings which, being characteristic of the classical porcelain, came to be regarded as beauty spots.
[221] e.g. The P’ing shih, the P’ing hua p’u, and the Chang wu chih, all late Ming works. An extract from the second (quoted in the T’ao lu, bk. ix., p. 4 verso) tells us that “Chang Tê-ch’ien says all who arrange flowers first must choose vases. For summer and autumn you should use porcelain vases. For the hall and large rooms large vases are fitting; for the study, small ones. Avoid circular arrangement and avoid pairs. Prize the porcelain and disdain gold and silver. Esteem pure elegance. The mouth of the vase should be small and the foot thick. Choose these. They stand firm, and do not emit vapours.” Tin linings, we are also told, should be used in winter to prevent the frost cracking the porcelain; and Chang wu chih (quoted ibidem, fol. 6 verso) speaks of very large Lung-ch’üan and Chün ware vases, two or three feet high, as very suitable for putting old prunus boughs in.
[222] Cobalt, the source of the ceramic blues, is obtained from cobaltiferous ore of manganese, and its quality varies according to the purity of the ore and the care with which it is refined.
[223] 0. C. A., p. 263. This very dark blue recalls one of the Chia Ching types noted on page 36.
[226] Biscuit is the usual term for a fired porcelain which has not been glazed.
[228] It has been suggested by Mr. Joseph Burton that the opacity of the colours described in the preceding paragraphs may have been due to the addition of porcelain earth to the glazing material.
[232] The T’ao lu (bk. ix., fol. 17 verso) quotes an infallible method for fixing the gold on bowls so that it would never come off; it seems to have consisted of mixing garlic juice with the gold before painting and firing it in the ordinary way.
[233] Loc. cit., and Bushell, O. C. A., p. 268.
[235] See T’ao shuo, bk. iii., fol. 10 verso.
[237] e.g. The Chieh tzŭ yüan ma chuan of the K’ang Hsi period, mentioned by Perzynski, Burlington Magazine, March, 1913, p. 310.
[238] Bushell’s translation, op. cit., p. 71.
[239] Ku chin t’u shu chi ch’êng, section xxxii., bk. 248, section entitled tz’ŭ ch’i pu hui k’ao, fol. 13 verso.
[241] The supplies of porcelain earth in the immediate district of Jao Chou Fu were exhausted by this time.
[242] The others were the Ch’ing-yün factory at Ssŭ-tu, and the Lan-ch’i factory in the Chien-ning district. The latter district was mentioned in vol. i., p. [130], in connection with the hare’s fur bowls of the Sung period.
[244] Tê-hua was formerly included in the Ch’üan-chou Fu, but is now in the Yung-ch’un Chou.
[246] Bk. vii., fol. 13 verso.
[247] Loc. cit.
[248] According to de Groot, Annales du Musée Guinet, vol. xi., p. 195.
[249] Brinkley, China and Japan, vol. ix., p. 274.
[250] See W. Anderson, Catalogue of the Japanese and Chinese Paintings in the British Museum, p. 75.
[251] O. C. A., p. 628.
[252] In the letter dated from Jao Chou, September, 1712, loc. cit.
[253] Incised designs on Fukien wares consist of the ordinary decoration etched in the body of the ware and of inscriptions which have evidently been cut through the glaze before it was fired. The latter often occur on wine cups, and are usually poetical sentiments or aphorisms, e.g. “In business be pure as the wind”; “Amidst the green wine cups we rejoice.”
[254] Japan and China, vol. ix., p. 273.
[255] Everyday Life in China, or Scenes in Fukien, by E. J. Dukes, London, 1885, p. 140. The reference is given by Bushell in his Oriental Ceramic Art.
[256] Loc. cit., p. 273.
[257] The Li t’a k’an k’ao ku ou pien, a copy of which, published in 1877, is in the British Museum. This book does not inspire confidence, but I give the passage for what it is worth: “When the glaze (of the Chien yao) is white like jade, glossy and lustrous, rich and thick, with a reddish tinge, and the biscuit heavy, the ware is first quality ... Enamelled specimens (wu ts’ai) are second rate.”
[258] In the Pierpont Morgan collection (vol. i., p. [78]), a specimen with a blue mark is described as Fukien porcelain; but I should accept the description with the greatest reserve, white Ching-tê Chên ware being very often wrongly described in this way.
[259] O. C. A., p. 294.
[260] In the second volume of the Pierpont Morgan catalogue—which, unfortunately, had not the benefit of Dr. Bushell’s erudition—the late Mr. Laffan extended the term lang yao so as to embrace the magnificent three-colour vases with black ground and their kindred masterpieces with green and yellow grounds. It is impossible to justify this extension of the term unless we assume that the pieces in question were all made between the years 1654–1661 and 1665–1668, while Lang T’ing-tso was viceroy of Kiangsi.
[261] O. C. A., p. 302.
[262] Quoted in the Franks Catalogue, p. 8.
[263] O. C. A., p. 302 footnote.
[264] See also Hippisley, Catalogue, p. 346, where another version is given which makes this Lang actually a Jesuit missionary, a version which Mr. Hippisley afterwards abandoned when research in the Jesuit records failed to discover any evidence for the statement.
[267] Op. cit., Section ix. The paragraph in the first letter runs: “Il y en a d’entièrement rouges, et parmi celles-là, les unes sont d’un rouge à l’huile, yeou li hum; les autres sont d’un rouge soufflé, tschoui hum (ch’ui hung), et sont semées de petits points à peu près comme nos mignatures. Quand ces deux sortes d’ouvrages réüssissent dans leur perfection, ce qui est assez difficile, ils sont infiniment estimez et extrêmement chers.”
[268] There is a very beautiful glaze effect known as “ashes of roses,” which seems to be a partially fired-out sang de bœuf. It is a crackled glaze, translucent, and lightly tinged with a copper red which verges on maroon.
[269] The Emperor K’ang Hsi was specially concerned to encourage industry and art, and in 1680 he established a number of factories at Peking for the manufacture of enamels, glass, lacquer, etc. Père d’Entrecolles mentions that he also attempted to set up the manufacture of porcelain in the capital, but though he ordered workmen and materials to be brought from Ching-tê Chên for the purpose, the enterprise failed, possibly, as d’Entrecolles hints, owing to intrigues of the vested interests elsewhere.
[270] Bushell, op. cit., p. 3.
[271] Bk. v., fol. 11.
lit. watered. This word has been rendered by some translators as “pale”; but probably it has merely the sense of “mixed with the (glaze) water,” i.e. a monochrome glaze. The recipe given in the T’ao lu (see Julien) is incomplete, only mentioning “crystals of saltpetre and ferruginous earth (fer ologiste terreux).” Another chiao which signifies “beautiful, delicate,” is applied to the Hung Chih yellow in Hsiang’s Album. See vol. ii., p. [28].
[273] Lit. “yellow distribute spots.” See, however, p. [190].
[274] See O. C. A., p. 317.
[275] The two letters were published in Lettres édifiantes et curieuses. They are reprinted as an appendix to Dr. Bushell’s translation of the T’ao shuo. They have been well translated by William Burton, in his Porcelain, Chap. ix.; Bushell gave a précis of them in his O. C. A., Chap, xi., and Stanislas Julien quoted them extensively in his Porcelaine Chinoise.
[276] Père d’Entrecolles (second letter, section xii.) points out that the glaze used for the blue and white was considerably softer than that of the ordinary ware, and was fired in the more temperate parts of the kiln. The softening ingredient (which consisted chiefly of the ashes of a certain wood and lime burnt together) was added to the glaze material (pai yu) in a proportion of 1 to 7 for the blue and white as against 1 to 13 for the ordinary ware.
[277] On some of the large saucer-shaped dishes of this period the foot rim is unusually broad and channelled with a deep groove.
[278] See Bushell, T’ao shuo, op. cit., p. 192. It is tolerably clear that d’Entrecolles in this passage is giving a verbatim rendering of a Chinese description. The “flowers” is, no doubt, hua, and might be rendered “decoration” in the general sense, and the “water and the mountains” is, no doubt, shan shui, the current phrase for “landscape.”
[279] For the shape of the ju-i head, see vol. i., p. [227].
[280] “Flaming silver candle lighting up rosy beauty,” a Ch’êng Hua design (see p. [25]) but often found in K’ang Hsi porcelain, which usually has, by the way, the Ch’êng Hua mark to keep up the associations.
[281] For further notes on design, see chap. xvii.
[282] There is a small collection of these porcelains salved from the sea and presented to the British Museum by H. Adams in 1853; but there is no evidence to show which, if any, were on board the Haarlem.
[283] This design was copied on early Worcester blue and white porcelain.
[284] In spite of Bushell’s translation of a Ming passage which would lead one to think otherwise; see p. [40].
[286] There are frequent allusions to the European trade in the letters of Père d’Entrecolles. In the first letter (Bushell, T’ao shuo, p. 191) a reference is made among moulded porcelains to “celles qui sont d’une figure bisarre, comme les animaux, les grotesques, les Idoles, les bustes que les Europeans ordonnent.” On p. 193: “Pour ce qui est des couleurs de la porcelaine, il y en a de toutes les sortes. On n’en voit gueres en Europe que de celle qui est d’un bleu vif sur un fond blanc. Je crois pourtant que nos Marchands y en ont apporté d’autres.” On p. 202, to explain the high price of the Chinese porcelain in Europe, we are told that for the porcelain for Europe new models, often very strange and difficult to manufacture, are constantly demanded, and as the porcelain was rejected for the smallest defect, these pieces were left on the potter’s hands, and, being un-Chinese in taste, were quite unsaleable. Naturally the potter demanded a high price for the successful pieces to cover his loss on the rejected.
On the other hand, we are told (p. [204]) that the mandarins, recognising the inventive genius of the Europeans, sometimes asked him (d’Entrecolles) to procure new and curious designs, in order that they might have novelties to offer to the Emperor. But his converts entreated him not to get these designs, which were often very difficult to execute and led to all manner of ill-treatment of the unfortunate workmen.
On the same page we are told that the European merchants ordered large plaques for inlaying in furniture, but that the potters found it impossible to make any plaque larger than about a foot square. In the second letter (section x.), however, we learn that “this year (1722) they had accepted orders for designs which had hitherto been considered impossible, viz. for urns (urnes) 3 feet and more high, with a cover which rose in pyramidal form to an additional foot. They were made in three pieces, so skilfully joined that the seams were not visible, and out of twenty-five made only eight had been successful. These objects were ordered by the Canton merchants, who deal with the Europeans; for in China people are not interested in porcelain which entails such great cost.”
[287] This defect is noticed by Père d’Entrecolles, who mentions another remedy used by the Chinese potters. They applied, he tells us in section ii. of the second letter, a preparation of bamboo ashes mixed with glazing material to the edges of the plate before the glazing proper. This was supposed to have the desired effect without impairing the whiteness of the porcelain.
[289] Second letter, section iv.
[290] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 320.
[292] The use of crackle glaze over blue (porcelaine toute azurée) is noted by Père d’Entrecolles in his first letter. See Bushell, op. cit., p. 195.
[293] See Bushell, T’ao shuo, p. 197.
[294] A somewhat similar but clumsier decoration was the “scratched blue” of the Staffordshire salt glaze made about 1750.
[295] On exceptional examples the red seems to have turned almost black, and in some cases it seems to have penetrated the glaze and turned brown.
[296] A similar combination of coloured glazes was effectively used on the moulded porcelains of the Japanese Hirado factory.
[298] Loc. cit., second letter, section xiv.
[299] Apparently huang lü huan, yellow and green (?) circles. But without the Chinese characters it is impossible to say which huan is intended. The description seems to apply to the “tiger skin” ware, where yellow, green and aubergine glazes have been applied in large patches. Bushell (O. C. A., p. 331) makes this expression refer to the specimens with engraved designs in colour contrasting with the surrounding ground, such as Fig. 1 of Plate 79; but this does not seem to suit the word huan.
[300] Loc. cit., section xiv.
[301] See footnote on p. [89].
[302] The same technique is employed on some of the Japanese Kaga wares.
[303] Apparently derived from manganese.
[305] Another favourite form is the ovoid beaker (see Plate 101), which is sometimes called the yen yen vase, apparently from yen, beautiful. But I only have this name on hearsay, and it is perhaps merely a trader’s term.
[307] A lotus-shaped set in the Salting collection numbers thirteen sections.
[308] The underglaze blue almost invariably suffered in the subsequent firings which were necessary for the enamels, and, as we shall see, a different kind of glaze was used on the pure enamelled ware and on the blue and white.
[309] Apart from the cases in which the enamel colours were added to faulty specimens of blue and white to conceal defects.
[311] Op. cit., section vi. “Il n’y a, dit on, que vingt ans ou environ qu’on a trouvé le secret de peindre avec le tsoui ou en violet et de dorer la porcelaine.” As far as the gilding is concerned, this statement is many centuries wrong. The tsoui is no doubt the ts’ui, which is very vaguely described in section xii. (under the name tsiu) of the same letter. Here it is stated to have been compounded of a kind of stone, but the description of its treatment clearly shows that the material was really a coloured glass, which is, in fact, the basis of the violet blue enamel.
[312] Bushell, op. cit., p. 193.
[313] Loc. cit., p. 195.
[314] See d’Entrecolles, second letter, section xii.
[315] Burnt lime and wood ashes. See p. [92].
[316] Catalogue of the 1910 exhibition, No. 84.
[317] These seals are usually difficult to decipher, and the one in question might be read shui shih chü (water and rock dwelling). This would be a matter of small importance did not the signature read by Bushell as wan shih chü occur in the Pierpont Morgan Collection. Other instances in the same collection are chu chü (bamboo retreat), shih chü (rock retreat), and chu shih chü (red rock retreat). The signature chu chü also occurs on a dish in the Dresden collection.
[320] Cat., vol. i., p. [156].
[321] Similar bottles in the Drucker Collection have the “G” mark.
[322] Fang tung yang, “imitating the Eastern Sea” (i.e. Japan).
[323] The first specimens (according to Bushell, O. C. A., p. 309) to reach America came from the collection of the Prince of Yi, whose line was founded by the thirteenth son of the Emperor K’ang Hsi.
[324] The general reader will probably not be much concerned as to whether the peach bloom was produced by oxide of copper or by some other process. Having learnt the outward signs of the glaze, he will take the inner meaning of it for granted. Others, however, will be interested to know that practically all the features of the peach bloom glaze, the pink colour, the green ground and the russet brown spots can be produced by chrome tin fired at a high temperature. I have seen examples of these chrome tin pinks made by Mr. Mott at Doulton’s, which exhibit practically all the peculiarities of the Chinese peach bloom. It does not, of course, follow that the Chinese used the same methods or even had any knowledge of chrome tin. They may have arrived at the same results by entirely different methods, and the peach bloom tints developed on some of the painted underglaze copper reds point to the one which is generally believed to have been used; but the difference between these and the fully developed peach bloom is considerable, and though we have no definite evidence one way or the other, the possibilities of chrome tin cannot be overlooked.
[325] The form of this water pot is known (according to Bushell, O. C. A., p. 318) as the T’ai-po tsun, because it was designed after the traditional shape of the wine jar of Li T’ai-po, the celebrated T’ang poet. In its complete state it has a short neck with slightly spreading mouth.
[328] i.e. lead glass.
[329] Chi, lit. sky-clearing, and chi ch’ing might be rendered “blue of the sky after rain.”
[330] There are some bowls and bottles in the Dresden collection with glazes of a pale luminous blue which are hard to parallel elsewhere.
[331] Loc. cit., section xvii. In another place (section iii.) we are told how the Chinese surrounded the ware with paper during the blowing operation, so as to catch and save all the precious material which fell wide of the porcelain.
[332] I cannot recall any example of the powder blue crackle which is here described.
[333] See Julien, p. 107.
[334] P. 170.
[335] Second letter, section xvii.
[336] The word “mazarine” has become naturalised in the English language. Goldsmith spoke of “gowns of mazarine blue edged with fur”; and “Ingoldsby” says the sky was “bright mazarine.” See R. L. Hobson, Worcester Porcelain, p. 101.
[339] These glazes generally have the appearance of being in two coats, and in some cases there actually seem to be two layers of crackle.
[341] i.e. the strong heavy types. Chinese literature speaks of thinner and more refined celadons of the Sung period, but few of these have come down to our day.
[342] Père d’Entrecolles fully describes these spurious celadons. See vol. i., p. [83].
[343] Second letter, section vii.
[344] The T’ao lu (see Julien, p. 213) gives this recipe for the kind of celadon known as Tung ch’ing, and a similar prescription with a small percentage of blue added for the variety known as Lung-ch’üan.
[345] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 316.
[347] There are some fine examples of orange yellow monochrome in the Peters Collection in New York. The colour was also used with success in the Ch’ien Lung period, the mark of which reign occurs on a good example in the Peters Collection.
[348] Bushell, O. C. A., Plates xxv. and lxxxiii.
[349] See Monkhouse, op. cit., fig. 22. The crackle on the mustard yellow glaze is usually small, but there is a fine specimen in the Peters Collection with large even crackle. Sometimes this yellow has a greenish tinge, and in a few instances it is combined with crackled green glaze.
[350] Second letter, section vi.
[351] See Père d’Entrecolles, second letter, section xiii.: “L’argent sur le vernis tse kin (tzŭ chin) a beaucoup d’éclat.”
[353] The blue of the cobalt is sometimes clearly visible in the fracture of the glaze; and in other cases the black has a decided tinge of brown.
[354] d’Entrecolles, loc. cit., section viii.: “Le noir éclatant ou le noir de miroir appellé ou kim” (wu chin).
[355] d’Entrecolles declares that it was the result of many experiments, apparently in his own time. See p. [194].
[356] Second letter, section xi.
[357] See M. Seymour de Ricci in the introduction to the Catalogue of a Collection of Mounted Porcelain belonging to E. M. Hodgkins, Paris, 1911, where much interesting information has been collected on the subject of French mounts and their designers. He quotes also from the Livre-journal de Lazare Duvaux marchand-bijoutier ordinaire du Roy (1748–1758), which includes a list of objects mounted for Madame de Pompadour and others, giving the nature of the wares and the cost of the work.
[358] Persian, Indian, and occasionally even Chinese metal mounts are found on porcelain; and Mr. S. E. Kennedy has a fine enamelled vase of the K’ang Hsi period with spirited dragon handles of old Chinese bronze.
[359] White was also used in the worship of the Year Star (Jupiter). Other colours which have a ritual significance are yellow, used in the Ancestral Temple by the Emperor, and on the altars of the god of Agriculture and of the goddess of Silk; blue, in the Temple of Heaven and in the Temple of Land and Grain; and red, in the worship of the Sun.
[360] Brinkley has aptly described it as “snow-white oil.”
[361] Cf. Père d’Entrecolles, second letter, section xviii.: “(The designs) are first outlined with a graving-tool on the body of the vase, and afterwards lightly channelled around to give them relief. After this they are glazed.”
[362] See d’Entrecolles, loc. cit., sections iv. and v. After describing the preparation of the steatite (hua shih) by mixing it with water, he continues: “Then they dip a brush in the mixture and trace various designs on the porcelain, and when they are dry the glaze is applied. When the ware is fired, these designs emerge in a white which differs from that of the body. It is as though a faint mist had spread over the surface. The white from hoa che (hua shih or steatite) is called ivory white, siam ya pe (hsiang ya pai).” In the next section he describes another material used for white painting under the glaze. This is shih kao, which has been identified with fibrous gypsum.
[364] First letter, Bushell, op. cit., p. 195.
[365] O. C. A., p. 533.
[366] Ku chin t’u shu, section xxxii., vol. 248, fol. 15. In this way, we are told, were produced (1) the thousandfold millet crackle and (2) the drab-brown (ho) cups. The colour of the latter was obtained by rubbing on a decoction of old tea leaves. The former is a name given to a glaze broken into “numerous small points.”
[367] See Bushell, T’ao shuo, loc. cit., p. 195.
[368] The Tao lu (see Julien, p. 214) informs us that the sui ch’i yu (crackle ware glaze) was made from briquettes formed of the natural rock of San-pao-p’êng. If highly refined this material produced small crackle; if less carefully refined, coarse crackle. In reference to sui ch’i in an earlier part of the same work, we are told that the Sung potters mixed hua shih with the glaze to produce crackle. Hua shih is a material of the nature of steatite, and Bushell (O. C. A., p. 447) states that the Chinese potters mix powdered steatite with the glaze to make it crackle. It is, then, highly probable that the “white pebbles” of Père d’Entrecolles and the rock of San-pao-p’êng are the same material and of a steatitic nature.
. Another name of this official, Yen kung, is mentioned in the T’ao lu, bk. v., fol. 11 verso.
[370] Situated at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze.
[371] Loc. cit.
[372] Silvering the entire surface (mo yin), as opposed to merely decorating with painted designs in silver (miao yin), appears to have been a novelty introduced by T’ang Ying.
[373] i.e. porcelain services painted with European coats of arms.
[375] See p. 225, Nos. 41 and 42.
[376] Cf. p. 25, where “high-flaming silver candle lighting up rosy beauty” is explained in this sense among the Ch’êng Hua designs.
[378] See p. 225, No. 45.
[379] See p. 224, Nos. 19 and 20.
[380] A beautiful example of a “stem-cup” in the Eumorfopoulos Collection, with three fishes on the exterior in underglaze red of brilliant quality and the Hsüan Tê mark inside the bowl, probably belongs to this class.
[382] See p. 225, No. 30.
[383] See p. 224, No. 26.
[384] See Catalogue 300–303. “On each is a miniature group of the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove with an attendant bringing a jar of wine and flowers. The porcelain is so thin that the design, with all the details of colour, can be distinctly perceived from the inside.” It is only right to say that their learned possessor has catalogued them as genuine examples of the Ch’êng Hua period.
[385] See p. 224, No. 25.
[387] See p. 224, No. 27.
[388] See p. 225, No. 36.
[389] T’ao shuo, bk. i., fol. 15 verso.
[390] See p. 225, No. 49. Fo-lang, fa-lang, fu-lang, and fa-lan are used indiscriminately by the Chinese in the sense of enamels on metal.
[391] In the T’ao lu, under the heading Yang tz’ŭ. It is a curious paradox that the Chinese called famille rose porcelain yang ts’ai (foreign colours) and the Canton enamels yang tz’ŭ (foreign porcelain). See Burlington Magazine, December, 1912, “Note on Canton Enamels.”
[392] See pp. 224–226, Nos. 29, 37, 38, 49, 51, 53, and 54.
[393] Apart from the rose pinks which are derived from purple of cassius, i.e. precipitate of gold, and the opaque white derived from arsenic, the colouring agents of the famille rose enamels are essentially the same as those of the famille verte. The colours themselves were brought to Ching-tê Chên in the form of lumps of coloured glass prepared at the Shantung glass works. These lumps were ground to a fine powder and mixed with a little white lead, and in some cases with sand (apparently potash was also used in some cases to modify the tones), and the powder was worked up for the painter’s use with turpentine, weak glue, or even with water. Cobaltiferous ore of manganese, oxide of copper, iron peroxide, and antimony were still the main colouring agents. The first produced the various shades of blue, violet, purple, and black; the second, the various greens; the third, coral or brick red; and the fourth, yellow of various shades. A little iron in the yellow gave the colour an orange tone.
The modifications of the green are more numerous. The pure binoxide of copper produced the shade used for distant mountains (shan lü), which could be converted into turquoise by the admixture of white. The ordinary leaf green was darkened by strengthening the lead element in the flux and made bluer by the introduction of potash in the mixture. Combined with yellow it gave an opaque yellowish green colour known as ku lü (ancient green); and a very pale greenish white, the “moon white” of the enameller, was made by a tinge of green added to the arsenious white.
The carmine and crimson rose tints derived from the glass tinted with precipitate of gold, which was known as yen chih hung (rouge red), were modified with white to produce the fên hung or pale pink; and the same carmine was combined with white and deep blue to make the amaranth or blue lotus (ch’ing lien) colour.
The ordinary brick red (the ta hung or mo hung) was derived from peroxide of iron mixed with a little glue to make it adhere, but depending on the glaze for any vitrification it could obtain. The addition of a plumbo-alcaline flux produced the more brilliant and glossy red of coral tint known as tsao’rh hung (jujube red).
The dry, dull black derived from cobaltiferous manganese was converted into a glossy enamel by mixing with green. This is the famille rose black as distinct from the black of the famille verte, which was formed by a layer of green washed over a layer of dull black on the porcelain itself.
There are, besides, numerous other shades, such as lavender, French grey, etc., obtained by cunning mixtures, and all these enamels were capable of use as monochromes in place of coloured glazes as well as for brushwork.
[394] Bushell, Chinese Art, vol. ii., fig. 61.
[395] Histoire de la porcelaine, pt. viii., fig. 3.
[396] These marks were discussed by Bushell in the Burlington Magazine, August and September, 1906. They are figured on vol. i., pp. [219] and [223].
[397] Quoted from a letter written to Sir Wollaston Franks by Mr. Arthur B. French, who visited Ching-tê Chên in 1882.
[398] Officially the reign of K’ang Hsi dates from 1662–1722, but he actually succeeded to the throne on the death of Shun Chih in 1661, so that his reign completed the cycle of sixty years in 1721.
[399] As Bushell has done in Chinese Art, vol. ii., p. 42.
[400] See “Note on Canton Enamels,” Burlington Magazine, December, 1912.
[401] See p. 225, No. 40.
[402] Op. cit., second letter, section xx.
[403] Nos. 39 and 55–57.
[404] Miao is used in the sense of to “draw” a picture or design.
[405] Bushell, O. C. A., p. 400, explains how the studio name was formed by the common device of splitting up Hu
into its component parts ku
and yüeh
.
[406] From the Hippisley collection, Catalogue, p. 408.
[407] Catalogue of Hippisley Collection, p. 347.
[408] Chinese Art, vol. ii., fig. 74.
[409] See p. 224, Nos. 15–17.
[410] A recipe given in the T’ao lu (bk. iii., fol. 12 verso) for the lu chün glaze speaks of “crystals of nitre, rock crystal, and (?) cobaltiferous manganese (liao) mixed with ordinary glaze.” But apart from the uncertain rendering of liao (which Bushell takes as ch’ing liao, i.e. the material used for blue painting), it is difficult to see how this composition, including the ordinary porcelain glaze, can have been fired in the muffle kiln.
[411] In the jujube red the iron oxide is mixed with the plumbo-alcaline flux of the enameller, whereas in the mo hung it is simply made to adhere to the porcelain by means of glue, and depends for the silicates, which give it a vitreous appearance, on the glaze beneath it.
[412] O. C. A., p. 360.
[413] See p. 224, No. 18.
[414] See p. 225, No. 44.
[415] Op. cit., p. 67.
[416] Catalogue, K. 18.
[417] Catalogue, vol. i., p. 38. The colour has already been discussed in a note on p. [68] of vol. i. of this book.
[419] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 368
[420] The Chinese is kua yu
, lit. hanging, suspended or applied glaze. The Yi-hsing stoneware was not usually glazed; hence the force of the epithet kua applied.
[421] The gold-flecked turquoise has yet to be identified.
[422] Bushell says this is the sapphire blue (pao shih lan) of the period.
mo, lit. “rubbed.” Bushell (O. C. A., p. 383) explains the term mo hung as “applied to the process of painting the coral red monochrome derived from iron over the glaze with an ordinary brush.”
[424] Bushell takes this to be the lemon yellow enamel which was first used at this time.
yu t’ung yung hung yu hui hua chê, yu ch’ing yeh hung hua chê. Bushell (O. C. A., p. 386) gives a slightly different application of this passage, but the meaning seems to be obviously that given above.
[427] This note is given by Bushell, apparently from the Chinese edition which he used; but it does not appear in the British Museum copy. It is, however, attached to the list as quoted in the T’ao lu.
[428] As already explained, miao chin refers to gilt designs painted with a brush, and mo chin to gilding covering the entire surface.
[429] O. C. A., p. 50.
[431] Translated by Bushell, O. C. A., p. 398.
[432] Bk. v., fol. 12.
, yu hsin shih, lit. “also he newly made.” This is undoubtedly the sense given by the Chinese original, and Julien renders it “il avait nouvellement mis en œuvre.” Bushell, on the other hand, translates: “He also made porcelain decorated with the various coloured glazes newly invented,” a reading which makes the word chih do duty twice over, and leaves it doubtful whether T’ang was the inventor of these types of decoration or merely the user of them. Both the grammar and the balance of the sentences in the original are against this colourless rendering.
[435] La Porcelaine Chinoise, p. 216.
[436] See p. [225]. “In the new copies of the Western style of painting in enamels (hsi yang fa lang hua fa), the landscapes and figure scenes, the flowering plants and birds are without exception of supernatural beauty.”
[438] P. 397.
[439] An interesting series of these bird’s egg glazes appearing, as they often do, on tiny vases was exhibited by his Excellency the Chinese Minister at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in November, 1913.
[440] There is a very old superstition in China that cracked or broken pottery is the abode of evil spirits. The modern collector abhors the cracked or damaged specimen for other reasons, and it is certain that such things would not be admitted to the Imperial collections. Many rare and interesting pieces which have come to Europe in the past will be found on examination to be more or less defective, and it is probable that we owe their presence chiefly to this circumstance.
[441] See Bushell’s translation, op. cit., p. 6.
[442] The T’ao shuo was published in 1774.
[444] See Julien, op. cit., p. 101, under the heading lung kang yao (kilns for the dragon jars).
[445] The Chinese foot as at present standardised is about two inches longer than the English foot, and the Chinese inch is one-tenth of it.
[447] There are four examples of the large size of fish bowl in the Pierpont Morgan Collection, but they are of late Ming date.
[448] Possibly the tint named in the T’ao shuo (Bushell, op. cit., p. 5). “They are coloured wax yellow, tea green, gold brown, or the tint of old Lama books,” in reference to incense burners of this period.
[449] Nos. 8, 9 and 11. See Bushell, T’ao shuo, op. cit., pp. 16–19.
[451] A plaque in the Bushell Collection with famille verte painting has also a remarkably lustrous appearance, which I can only ascribe to excessive iridescence.
[452] See Bushell’s translation, op. cit. p. 20.
[453] Figured by L. Binyon, Painting in the Far East, first edition, Plate XIX. There is a fine vase of late Ming blue and white porcelain with this design in the Dresden collection.
[454] This green enamel is sometimes netted over with lines suggesting crackle studded with prunus blossoms. Possibly this is intended to recall both in colour and pattern the “plum blossom” crackle of the Sung Kuan yao; see vol. i., p. [61].
[455] Shên tê t’ang and ch’ing wei t’ang. See vol. i., p. [220].
[456] See Burton and Hobson, Marks on Pottery and Porcelain, p. 151.
[457] Op. cit., pp. 116–175.
[458] T’ao shuo, op. cit., pp. 7–30 and O. C. A., ch. xv.
[459] The Lowestoft factory started about 1752, but its earlier productions were almost entirely blue and white, often copied, like most of the contemporary blue and white from Chinese export wares.
[460] A curious instance of imitation of European ornament is a small bowl which I recently saw with openwork sides and medallions, apparently moulded from a glass cameo made by Tassie at the end of the eighteenth century; and there is a puzzle jug with openwork neck, copied from the well known Delft-ware model, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
[461] Rotterdam was captured by the Spaniards in 1572; but those who are interested in the anachronism of Chinese marks will observe that these plates have the date mark of the Ch’êng Hua period (1465–1487).
[463] Op. cit., p. 207.
[464] An interesting example of an early eighteenth century service with European designs is the “trumpeter service,” of which several specimens may be seen in the Salting Collection. It has a design of trumpeters, or perhaps heralds, reserved in a black enamelled ground.
[465] One of these pieces, for instance, is a plate with arms of Sir John Lambert, who was created a baronet in 1711 and died in 1722. It has enamels of the transition kind.
[466] P. 209.
[467] The willow pattern is merely an English adaptation of the conventional Chinese landscape and river scene which occurs frequently on the export blue and white porcelain of the eighteenth century. That it represents any particular story is extremely improbable.
[468] Frank Falkner, The Wood Family of Burslem, p. 67.
[469] Another chambrelan who flourished about the same time and who worked in the same style was C. F. de Wolfsbourg.
[470] O. C. A., p. 464.
[471] “The mountains are high, the rivers long.”
[473] Catalogue, No. 367.
[475] Hippisley Collection, Catalogue, No. 169.
[476] O. C. A., p. 469.
[477] This extravagant idea has been long ago exploded, and need not be rediscussed. See, however, Julien Porcelaine Chinoise, p. xix., and Medhurst, Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong, 1853.
[478] O. C. A., p. 470.
[479] Bk. 93, fols. 13–15.
[480] O. C. A., pp. 474–83.
[481] Bushell applies the phrase pan tzŭ to the bowls and renders it “of ring-like outline.”
[482] Bushell renders ju-i in the general sense, “with words of happy augury”; it is, however, applied to ornaments of ju-i staffs and to borders of ju-i heads.
[484] Bk. i., fols. 1 and 2; see Bushell, op. cit., pp. 3–6.
[485] This is a variety of the key pattern or Greek fret, which is of world-wide distribution.
[486] A less usual variety has the ovoid body actually surmounted by a beaker
[487] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 797.
[488] See Bushell’s translation, op. cit., p. 4.
[489] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 489.
[490] Among others is the “tantalus cup,” with a small tube in the bottom concealed by a figure of a man or smiling boy. When the water in the cup reaches the top of the tube it runs away from the base.
[491] Loc. cit., p. 204.
[492] The cup with handle was made in the tea services for the European market, but the handle is not, as has been sometimes asserted, a European addition to the cup. Cups with handles were made in China as early as the T’ang dynasty (see Plate 11, Fig. 2); but for both wine and tea drinking the Chinese seem to have preferred the handleless variety.
[493] When the names are known the incidents can usually be found in such works of reference as Mayers’ Chinese Reader’s Manual, Giles’s Chinese Biographical Dictionary, and Anderson’s Catalogue of Chinese and Japanese Pictures.
[494] Told in the Shui Hu Chuan; see O. C. A., p. 570, a note in Bushell’s excellent chapter on Chinese decorative motives, of which free use has been made here.
[495] A not uncommon subject is the meeting of a young horseman with a beautiful lady in a chariot, and it has been suggested that this may be the meeting of Ming Huang and Yang Kuei-fei; but the identification is quite conjectural.
[496] Another game, hsiang ch’i (elephant checkers), is far nearer to our chess.
[497] A group of five old men similarly employed represents the wu lao (the five old ones), the spirits of the five planets.
[498] Chang Kuo Lao, the Taoist Immortal, is also regarded as one of the gods of Literature; see p. [287].
[499] Vajrapani is one of the gods of the Four Quarters of the Heaven, who are guardians of Buddha. They are represented as ferocious looking warriors, sometimes stamping on prostrate demon-figures. As such they occur among the T’ang tomb statuettes, but they are not often represented on the later porcelains.
[500] The Kanzan and Jitoku of Japanese lore.
[501] See Catalogue of the Pierpont Morgan Collection, vol. i., p. [156].
[502] Indeed it is likely that the modern ju-i head derives from the fungus. The ju-i
means “as you wish” or “according (ju) to your idea (i),” and the sceptre, which is made in all manner of materials such as wood, porcelain, lacquer, cloisonné enamel, etc., is a suitable gift for wedding or birthday. Its form is a slightly curved staff about 12 to 15 inches long, with a fungus-shaped head bent over like a hook. On the origin of the ju-i, see Laufer, Jade, p. 335.
[503] The Japanese Mt. Horai.
[504] See Hippisley, Catalogue, op. cit., p. 392.
[505] The Buddhist pearl or jewel, which grants every wish.
[506] See a rare silver cup depicting this legend, figured in the Burlington Magazine, December, 1912.
[507] See W. Perceval Yetts, Symbolism in Chinese Art, read before the China Society, January 8th, 1912, p. 3.
[508] Hippisley (op. cit., p. 368), speaking of the various dragons, says that “the distinction is not at present rigidly maintained, and the five-clawed dragon is met with embroidered on officers’ uniforms.”
[509] A dual creature, the fêng being the male and the huang the female.
[510] See Laufer, Jade, pl. 43.
[511] See Laufer, Jade, p. 266.
[512] See Bushell, Chinese Art, vol. i., p. 111.
[514] They also symbolise the three friends, Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-tzŭ.
[515] O. C. A., p. 106.
[516] It is also used as a synonym for “embroidered,” and when it occurs as a mark on porcelain, it suggests the idea “richly decorated.”
[517] Also a symbol of conjugal felicity; and a rebus for yü, fertility or abundance.
[518] Having the same sound as ch’ang (long).
[519] O. C. A., p. 119.
[520] A pair of open lozenges interlaced are read as a rebus t’ung hsin fang shêng (union gives success); see Bushell, O. C. A., p. 120.
[521] Bushell, O. C. A., p. 521.
[522] See Hippisley, Catalogue No. 381.
[523] Ibid.
[524] Ibid., No. 388.
[525] Ibid.
[528] See Anderson, op. cit., No. 747.
[529] Bk. viii., fol. 4, quoting the Shih ch’ing jihcha.
[530] See chap. xvii. of vol. i., which deals with marks.
Transcriber's Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.