Another critic,[117] discussing Kuan ware as a whole, makes its characteristics practically the same as those of the Ko ware, to which we shall come next, and states that "in regard to colour, in both cases the pale ch´ing (fên ch´ing) specimens are the best, the 'pale white' (tan pai[118]) are second, while those with ash–coloured (hui sê) glaze are very inferior." From the same writer we gather that artificial staining of the crackle was employed on both Kuan and Ko wares, for he speaks of "ice–crackle with lines red as eel's blood" and "plum–blossom[119] crackle with ink–coloured lines," besides an inferior type of crackle with fine lines which did not suggest any particular pattern.
The Hang Chou Kuan ware, variously described as Kuan yao, Hsiu nei ssŭ yao, Nei yao, and Shao yao from the locality of the factory and the name of its manager, is described in both the Cho kêng lu and the Ko ku yao lun. In the former it was said to be a ch´ing ware, "finely levigated clay[120] is the rule, and it is of very exquisite make; the coloured glaze is translucent[121]; it is the delight of the age."[122] The latter,[123] which makes no mention of an earlier Kuan ware, gives the following description of the Nei yao: "The material is fine and unctuous, the colour ch´ing with a flush of pale red (tai fên hung) and of varying intensity. Specimens with crab's–claw crackle, brown mouth, and iron foot, and of good colour rank with Ju yao. There are, besides, specimens with a black body which are called wu ni yao. All the imitations which are made at Lung–ch´üan are without crackle."
Further information is given in the Po wu yao lan, viz. that the clay used at the factory below the Phœnix Hill at Hang Chou for making Kuan yao was of reddish brown (tzŭ) colour, and that this explains the phenomenon of the "brown mouth and iron foot"[124]; for "the brown mouth is due to the fact that the vessel's mouth points upwards and the glaze flows downwards and is thinner at the mouth than on the rest of the body, so that the brown colour (of the clay) is disclosed at the mouth." The iron foot is, of course, the raw edge of the clay which appears at the foot rim. As this peculiarity is not noted in the Cho kêng lu, we are at liberty to infer that it was not a constant feature of the Kuan wares, and that some of them, as already hinted in the quotation from the Liu ch´ing jih cha, had a whitish body.
Of the third Kuan yao made "below the suburban altar" at a slightly later date, we know nothing except that it followed the style of the older wares, but with inferior results.
Though we do not pretend to attach much weight to the illustrations in Hsiang's Album, the descriptions in the accompanying text cannot be ignored. They include ten specimens of Kuan yao,[125] five of which are explained as fên ch´ing (pale blue or green). Of the rest one is "pale ch´ing clear and lustrous like a sapphire blue jewel,"[126] evidently with a decidedly blue tinge; another is "kingfisher, blue as the clear blue sky,"[127] recalling the Ch´ai "blue of the sky after rain "; another is "sky blue" (t´ien ch´ing); another "onion green" (ch´ing ts´ung), the colour of onion sprouts; and another is "egg green" (luan ch´ing), which recalls and perhaps explains the luan pai (egg white) of the Ju yao.
PLATE 17
Two examples of Sung wares of the Chün or Kuan factories.
Fig. 1.—Bowl with lavender glaze, lightly crackled. O. Raphael Collection. Height 4 1/2 inches.
Fig. 2.—Vase with smooth lavender grey glaze suffused with purple. Eumorfopoulos Collection. Height 3 3/4 inches.
