[287] This defect is noticed by Père d’Entrecolles, who mentions another remedy used by the Chinese potters. They applied, he tells us in section ii. of the second letter, a preparation of bamboo ashes mixed with glazing material to the edges of the plate before the glazing proper. This was supposed to have the desired effect without impairing the whiteness of the porcelain.
[289] Second letter, section iv.
[290] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 320.
[292] The use of crackle glaze over blue (porcelaine toute azurée) is noted by Père d’Entrecolles in his first letter. See Bushell, op. cit., p. 195.
[293] See Bushell, T’ao shuo, p. 197.
[294] A somewhat similar but clumsier decoration was the “scratched blue” of the Staffordshire salt glaze made about 1750.
[295] On exceptional examples the red seems to have turned almost black, and in some cases it seems to have penetrated the glaze and turned brown.
[296] A similar combination of coloured glazes was effectively used on the moulded porcelains of the Japanese Hirado factory.