The use of double glazes to produce new and curious effects is characteristic of the period. The second glaze was applied in various ways by blowing, flecking, or painting it over the first. The Chün glaze of the muffle kiln belongs to this type if it has, as I think, been correctly identified with the blue green dappled with crimson on Fig. 4 of Plate [128]; and the bird’s egg glazes mentioned on p. [217] belong to the same class.[439] Others of a similar appearance, though not necessarily of the same technique, are the tea dust (ch’a yeh mo) and iron rust (t’ieh hsiu).
The tea dust glaze has a scum of dull tea green specks over an ochreous brown or bronze green glaze, applied either to the biscuit or over an ordinary white glazed porcelain; and it seems to have been a speciality of the Ch’ien Lung period, though there are known specimens with the Yung Chêng mark and many fine examples were made in later reigns. But neither this glaze nor double glazes in general are inventions of this time. It would be more correct to speak of them as revivals, for the early Japanese tea jars, which are based on Chinese originals, illustrate the principle of the double glaze, and there are specimens of stoneware as old as the Sung if not the T’ang dynasty, with dark olive glaze flecked with tea green, and scarcely distinguishable from the Ch’ien Lung tea dust. It is stated on the authority of M. Billequin (see Bushell, O. C. A., p. 518) that a “sumptuary law was made restricting the use of the tea dust glaze to the Emperor, to evade which collectors used to paint their specimens with imaginary cracks,[440] and even to put in actual rivets to make them appear broken.”
The iron rust is a dark lustrous brown glaze strewn with metallic specks (due to excess of iron), and in the best examples clouded with passages of deep red. But these are only two examples of skill displayed by the Ch’ien Lung potters in imitating artistic effects in other materials. Special success was attained in reproducing the many tints of old bronze and its metallic surface. Bright-coloured patina was suggested by touches of flambé, and the effects of gilding or gold and silver inlay were rendered by the gilder’s brush. The appearance of inlaid enamels was skilfully copied. “In fact,” to quote from the T’ao shuo,[441] “among all the works of art in carved gold, embossed silver, chiselled stone, lacquer, mother-of-pearl, bamboo and wood, gourd and shell, there is not one that is not now[442] produced in porcelain, a perfect copy of the original piece.” Nor is this statement much exaggerated, for I have seen numerous examples in which grained wood, red lacquer, green jade, bronze, and even mille fiori glass have been so closely copied that their real nature was not detected without close inspection.
Reverting to T’ang’s achievements, we find special mention made of the reproductions of Chün yao which have been already discussed in detail,[443] and of the revived manufacture of the large dragon fish bowls. The latter are the great bowls which caused such distress among the potters in the Wan Li period. They are described in the T’ao lu[444] as being fired in specially constructed kilns, and requiring no less than nineteen days to complete their baking. The largest size is said to have measured 6 ft.[445] in height, with a thickness of 5 in. in the wall, one of them occupying an entire kiln. The old Ming dragon bowl found by T’ang Ying[446] at the factory was one of the smaller sizes, and measured 3 ft. in diameter and 2 ft. in height. They were intended for the palace gardens for keeping gold-fish or growing water-lilies, and the usual decoration consisted of Imperial dragons. They are variously described as lung kang (dragon bowls), yü kang (fish bowls), and ta kang (great bowls).
PLATE 123
Eighteenth Century Glazes
Fig. 1.—Square Vase with tubular handles, and apricot-shaped medallions on front and back. Flambé red glaze. Ch’ien Lung period (1736–1795). Height 6¾ inches.
British Museum.
Fig. 2.—Bottle-shaped Vase with deep blue (ta ch’ing) glaze: unglazed base. Early eighteenth century. Height 15¾ inches.