Plate 46.—Ting Ware and Yüan Porcelain.
Fig.1.—Bottle with carved reliefs of archaic dragons and ling chih funguses. Fèn ting ware, said to be Sung dynasty. Height 8 3/4 inches.
Fig. 2.—Bowl with moulded floral designs in low relief, unglazed rim. Translucent porcelain, probably Yüan dynasty. Diameter 8 inches. Eumorfopoulos Collection.
It is always difficult to determine the age of plain white wares, but among the archaic specimens of translucent porcelain with creamy white glaze and rough finish at the base which have come from China in recent years under the varying descriptions of Sung, Yüan and early Ming, there are, no doubt, several examples of the Yüan wares of Ching–tê Chên (see Plate 46, Fig. 2).
The mention, in the Memoirs of Chiang and the Ko ku yao lun, of painted decoration, enamelled ornament, silvering, and gilding, though apparently but crudely used and little appreciated, is nevertheless of great interest from the historical standpoint.
The potteries at Hu–t´ien which are mentioned in the Memoirs of Chiang (see p. 160) were only separated from Ching–tê Chên by the width of the river. They are described in the T´ao lu[365] as active at the beginning of the Yüan dynasty and producing a ware which, though of coarse grain, had "a considerable amount of antique elegance," and appealed to the taste of the inhabitants of the Chêkiang. The clay was hard and tough, and the colour of the ware brownish yellow[366] as a rule, but even when of a "watery white" tone it was tinged with the same brown colour. At the end of the eighteenth century all trace of the factories had disappeared, though the village still existed[367] and the old wares were still to be found.
Brinkley, who seems to have met with examples of the ware in Japan, describes it as follows[368]: "The pâte is thick and dense, without any of the delicacy of porcelain, and the glaze is muddy yellow.... The surface of the pieces is generally relieved by deeply incised designs of somewhat archaic character, figure subjects being most common. Some examples are preserved in Japanese collections, where they are known as Ningyo–de (figure subject variety) in allusion to the nature of the incised designs." In spite of its apparent roughness it was thought worthy of imitation at Ching–tê Chên in the Ming dynasty.[369]
Among the causes to which was attributed the lack of prosperity at Ching–tê Chên in the Yüan period, the Memoirs of Chiang includes (1) the uncertainty of the season on which the opening of the factory partly depended, (2) the intolerable taxation and the exactions of officials, and (3) the competition of the potteries at Lin–ch´uan, Nan–fêng Hsien, and Chien–yang, all of which, as Bushell indicates, lay on the trade route between Ching–tê Chên and south–eastern coast towns.
Of these we learn in the T´ao lu that Lin–ch´uan[370] in the Fu–chou Fu in Kiangsi (not far south of Ching–tê Chên) made a ware of fine clay and thin substance, the colour of which was mostly white with a slight yellowish tinge, and that some of the pieces were coarsely ornamented, though we are not informed how the ornament was applied. The same authority informs us that Nang–fêng Hsien[371] in the Chien–yang Fu (also in Kiangsi) made a ware of refined clay but somewhat thick substance, which was, as a rule, decorated with blue designs (ch´ing hua), though some had the colour of the t´u ting ware, i.e. the coarser and yellower variety of Ting Chou porcelain.