The five brief dynasties which fill the interval between the T´ang and Sung periods are only known to ceramic history for two wares, the identity of which remains a matter of conjecture. The first is the pi sê ware of Yüeh Chou, which has already been discussed; and the second is the celebrated but intangible Ch´ai ware. Chinese writers wax poetical over the Ch´ai ware. "Men of old," says a late Ming writer,[78] "described Ch´ai ware as blue like the sky, brilliant like a mirror, thin like paper, and resonant like a musical stone." An earlier and less hyperbolical description of it given in the Ko ku yao lun[79] states that it was made at Chêng Chou, in Honan, and named ch´ai by Shin Tsung (of the Posterior Chou dynasty, who reigned for five years from 954 to 959); that its colour was sky blue; that it was "rich, refined, and unctuous," and had fine crackle–lines; that in many cases there was coarse yellow clay on the foot of the wares; and that it was rarely seen in the writer's time. Elsewhere[80] we read that, according to tradition, Shih Tsung, on being asked what kind of ware he would require for palace use, commanded that its colour for the future should be "the blue of the sky after rain as seen in the rifts of the clouds."[81] As early as the sixteenth century the Ch´ai ware had virtually ceased to exist, and a writer[82] of that time tells us "Ch´ai ware is no longer to be found. I once saw a fragment of a broken piece mounted in a girdle–buckle. Its colour was brilliant, and answered to the usual description of the ware, but the ware itself was thick." A century afterwards the ware was nothing more than a tradition, and later it developed a legendary character. Fragments of it were said to dazzle the eyes, and when worn on armour to turn aside missiles in battle.[83]
Plate 12.—T´ang Pottery with green glaze.
Fig. 1.—Bottle with impressed key–fret. Height 7 1/2 inches. Eumorfopoulos Collection. Fig. 2.—Ewer with incised foliage scrolls. Height 4 1/4 inches. Alexander Collection. Fig. 3.—Vase with foliage scrolls, painted in black under the glaze, incised border on the shoulder. Height 4 1/4 inches. Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Plate 13.—T´ang Pottery.
Fig. 1.—Pilgrim Bottle with lily palmette and raised rosettes, green glaze. Height 7 1/2 inches. Koechlin Collection. Fig. 2.—Pilgrim Bottle (neck wanting), Hellenistic figures of piping boy and dancing girl in relief among floral scrolls, brownish green glaze. Height 8 1/2 inches. Eumorfopoulos Collection.
