(8) Sky blue (t´ien lan
).
(9) Furnace transmutation or flambé (yao pien
).
The potters of the Yung Chêng period (1723–35) succeeded wonderfully in their work of imitation, and existing examples bear witness to the beautiful colour effects which they obtained. The body of the ware, however, was, as a rule, a fine white porcelain,[262] which had to be carefully concealed by the brown glaze on the base. Many of the Yung Chêng specimens are marked with the seal mark of the period, and occasional instances occur in which this mark has been ground off in order to pass the piece as old. I have such a specimen, which was actually bought in the trade for Sung. It is a small dish, with beautiful turquoise green glaze in the centre and a flambé red on the sides. The place where the mark has been ground away when washed clean showed a fine white porcelain body. It is stated in the T´ao lu that the potters at Ching–tê Chên began to imitate the Chün wares towards the end of the Sung dynasty. No evidence is given to support the assertion, which may be merely a local tradition; but one certainly sees occasional specimens with a porcelain body masked by a dark brown clay dressing under the base, the glazes of which obviously imitate the Chün. There are, for instance, saucers and bowls of this kind with purple glaze finely shot with grey on the exterior and a lavender grey inside which appear to be older than the Yung Chêng period, though their shape precludes a greater age than the Ming dynasty.
There are, however, many other imitations of Chün ware in which the body is not of tell–tale white porcelain. The Po wu yao lan, for instance, written at the end of the Ming dynasty, states that "in the present day among the recent wares all this type of ware (viz. the Chün type) has the sandy clay of Yi–hsing[263] for its body; the glaze is very similar to the old, and there are beautiful specimens, but they do not wear well." Yi–hsing is the place where the red stoneware tea pots, often called Chinese "buccaro," were made, and we know that a Yi–hsing potter, named Ou, was famous at the end of the Ming dynasty for his imitations of Ko, Kuan, and Chün glazes.[264] A bowl in the British Museum seems to answer the description of Ou's ware. It has a hard red stoneware body, and a thick undulating glaze of pale lavender blue colour, the comparative softness of which is attested by the well–worn surface of the interior.
The "Yung Chêng list" includes yet another type based upon Chün ware. It is called "Chün glaze of the muffle kiln," clearly a low–fired enamel rather than a glaze, whose colour is between the Kuangtung ware and the added[265] glaze of Yi–hsing, though in surface–markings, undulations and transmutation tints it surpasses them. This appears to be the "robin's egg" type of glaze,[266] to use the American collector's phrase, a thick, opaque enamel of pale greenish blue tint flecked with ruby red (see Plate 128).
The manufacture of glazes of the Chün type has continued at Yi–hsing since the days of Ou, and what is called Yi–hsing Chün is still manufactured in considerable quantity, the streaky lavender glazes being of no little merit. When applied to incense burners and vessels of archaic form, they are capable of being passed off as old, though the initiated will recognise them by their want of depth and transparency and by the peculiar satiny lustre of their surface.