The Sung Dynasty, which occupied the throne of China for more than three hundred years beginning towards the end of the tenth century, witnessed the first emergence of a true ceramic style. The potters of earlier times had been content to follow the forms set by the bronze-founder, but their successors of the Sung period set forth on purely ceramic lines and arrived at a great variety of wares which are recorded in Chinese literature. To identify these among surviving specimens that may be attributed to this period is a formidable task for the antiquarian. The problem need not be discussed here, as most of these wares cannot be classed as porcelain in the ordinary sense of the word; but it is interesting to note briefly those types which foreshadow the developments of later times.
The emancipation of the potter to a position of independence is well shown by a small vase in the Victoria and Albert Museum of the type known as “Chün yao,” made from the earliest years of the Sung period at Chün-chou, in the province of Honan. The vase is of ovoid form with a lizard-like dragon coiled round it in relief; the surface is covered with a thick lavender-blue glaze on which is a splash of strong crimson. Though the body is porcellanous, the freedom of the modelling marks a distinct advance from the imitative bronze vessels of earlier times, while the brilliancy of the colouring anticipates the pure and gorgeous hues which were among the triumphs of the golden age of porcelain.
The discovery during this period of the properties of kaolin and the effort to imitate by artificial means the luminous beauties of jade, pointed the way to the evolution of a white translucent porcelain body. The cream-coloured Ting ware, made at Ting-chou in the province of Chihli, stand, among the relics of these far-off times which have escaped destruction, as the first achievements in this direction. The beauty and dignity of this ware is well exemplified by the two quadrangular vases at South Kensington, formerly in Dr. Bushell’s collection. The delicate floral or diaper ornament incised under the soft ivory-toned glaze gives promise of the skilful handiwork of the golden age of the art. One distinctive characteristic of porcelain, the quality of translucency, is still absent in most wares of this order, but pieces of smaller size, such as an exquisitely fashioned little box and cover at Kensington, show a warm glow through their thinner parts when held to the light.
Another class of ware to which reference must here be made is the celebrated celadon ware of Lung-ch’üan, in the province of Chekiang, which was first produced during this dynasty in the effort to imitate green jade. This ware was widely exported over land and sea, and is met with in remote and unexpected corners of the Old World. A well-known specimen of it, Archbishop Warham’s cup, preserved at New College, Oxford, is the first piece of Chinese ware recorded to have reached this country. Though it has the nature rather of fine stoneware than of porcelain, it is to be noted as the forerunner of a large class of porcelain of later times.
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It was not until the period of the Ming Dynasty that the ware usually associated in Europe with the term “porcelain” first began to be made, that is, a ware with a hard, pure white body, more or less translucent. The beginning of the same period witnessed the emergence to a position of ascendancy of the imperial factory at Ching-tê-chên, in the province of Kiangsi. The factory was rebuilt in 1869 by Hung Wu, the first of the Ming emperors, and remained henceforward the chief centre of the porcelain industry in China. The subsequent achievements of Ching-tê-chên have never been surpassed in the whole history of ceramic art.
The Ming dynasty productions have a certain well-marked cachet, which distinguishes them clearly in their several classes alike from the wares of earlier times and from the porcelain made under the later Ch’ing emperors. There is a notable predominance of vessels of large size, formed of heavy material, displaying a massiveness and bold simplicity in their contours and decorated with designs, whether modelled or painted, of vigorous conception and of free, even rough execution. The potter addresses himself with energy to his task, and is no longer limited either to the imitative work of the Han dynasty, or to the more restrained, often delicate performances of the intervening age. At the same time, he has not yet gained the mastery of hand or the familiarity with the powers of the kiln which made possible the artistic and technical refinements of his successors.
PLATE 8
Vase, Chinese, period of K’ang Hsi (1662–1722), with enamel painting of the famille verte. Height, 18 in.
No. 276-1864. See p. [21].