The geographical annals of the province of Shensi are quoted[428] with reference to potteries in the T´ung–chou Fu as follows: "The inhabitants of Lei–hsiang and Pai–shui[429] are good potters, and the porcelains (tz´ŭ ch´i) which they make are of surpassingly clever workmanship. These are what are commonly called lei kung ch´i (vessels of the Lord of Thunder). Some say that the potteries of Hsiang only began to be active when the original wares had ceased to be made. The village of Lei–hsiang is east of Shên Hsien, and it is the place of the temple of the Hsiang family. The inhabitants of the place sometimes dig up castaway Hsiang wares. Their shape and style are archaic; the colour of the ware is green (lü), deep and dark, but brilliant. One kind has slight ornament in raised clay, but if the hand is passed over it, the surface feels smooth and without perceptible relief or indentation.[430] When compared with the Hsüan,[431] Ko and other wares, it may be said to surpass them." The description in the last part seems to apply to the older wares which preceded those made in the district at the time of writing.
The modern potteries at Yo Chou in Shensi are represented in the Field Museum, Chicago, by a black–painted ware in Tz´ŭ Chou style, by a greyish white ware with sketchy blue designs, and by a black slag–like earthenware which is extremely light to handle. It is also suggested that a well known type of pottery, painted with free floral designs in black and white on a creamy glaze which is stained a pinkish brown colour, is an earlier product of the same potteries.
The potteries at Ch´ü–yang Hsien
in the Chên–ting Fu, in Chihli, are mentioned[432] in the administrative records of the Ming dynasty in the Hsüan Tê period, and again under the dates 1553 and 1563, as supplying wine jars and vases for the Court. This place is only a few miles east of Ting Chou, which was celebrated for its white wares in the Sung period, and these references carry the record of the industry in that district to the last part of the Ming dynasty. Unfortunately, nothing is said of the nature of the wares made at this time for the Court.
Reference is made elsewhere (p. [202]) to the potteries at Wu–ch´ing Hsien, in the Peking district. Possibly these are the potteries described, by Bushell[433] as still active in modern times. "The ordinary glaze," he remarks, "is a reddish brown of marked iridescence, shining with an infinity of metallic specks, an effective background to the moulded decoration which covers the surface. The designs are generally of hieratic character."
The "sun–stone" glazes made at the Rookwood Potteries (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.) and on the Lancastrian wares[434] are of this kind, the infinity of metallic specks being due to "super–saturation" of the glaze with iron oxide. A specimen of this modern Peking ware may be seen in the British Museum.
The tile works at Liu–li–chü, near Peking, date back to the Yüan dynasty, and their modern productions as represented in the Field Museum include a pottery with incised designs filled in with yellow, green, and dark aubergine glazes, not unlike in style to the Japanese Sanuki ware. Another type has forms taken from bronzes and is distinguished by a shining green glaze.
In the province of Shantung, besides the tile works at Lin–ch´ing,[435] the important, potteries at Yen–shên Chên
