Height 34 inches.
The precise nature of the Sung mi sê which is included among the Ko yao, Chün yao and Hsiang-hu wares reproduced by the Yung Chêng potters according to the Imperial list is a little doubtful. Possibly one type was illustrated by the “shallow bowl with spout: grey stoneware with opaque glaze of pale sulphur yellow,” which Mr. Alexander exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1910.[416] Another is indicated in the Pierpont Morgan collection[417] in a “shallow bowl with greenish yellow crackled glaze,” apparently of the type found occasionally in Borneo, where such wares are still treasured by the Dyaks. The vase in the Victoria and Albert Museum which is figured by Monkhouse (op. cit., Fig. 22) as a specimen of old mi sê, appears for reasons already given[418] to be a Yung Chêng reproduction of this type. The “mustard yellow” which Bushell included under the description mi sê is an opaque crackled enamel which can hardly have originated before the Yung Chêng period, and it is possible that it resulted from an attempt to reproduce the old Sung mi sê crackle.
The following list of the decorations used at the Imperial factory was compiled by Hsieh Min, the governor of the province of Kiangsi from 1729 to 1734.[419] It was translated by Bushell in his Oriental Ceramic Art; but reference has been made to it so often in these pages, and its importance is so obvious, that no apology is necessary for giving it in full. The following version is taken from the Chiang hsi t’ung chih, bk. 93, fols. 11 to 13, and in most cases Bushell’s rendering has been followed:—
1. Glazes of the Ta Kuan period (i.e. Sung Kuan yao) on an “iron” body, including moon white (yüeh pai), pale blue or green (fên ch’ing) and deep green (ta lü).**
2. Ko glaze on an “iron” body, including millet colour (mi sê) and fên ch’ing.**
3. Ju glaze without crackle on a “copper” body: the glaze colours copied from a cat’s food basin of the Sung dynasty, and a dish for washing brushes moulded with a human face.
4. Ju glaze with fish-roe crackle on a “copper” body.**
5. White Ting glaze. Only the fên Ting was copied, and not the t’u Ting.
6. Chün glazes. Nine varieties are given, of which five were copied from old palace pieces and four from newly acquired specimens; see p. 000.
7. Reproductions of the chi hung red of the Hsüan Té period: including fresh red (hsien hung) and ruby red (pao shih hung).