(decoction of ginger); these are the sacrificial altar vessels regularly used by the Emperor Shih Tsung (i.e. Chia Ching), and they are called white altar cups, though in form and material they are far from equalling the Hsüan Tê vessels. The Chia Ching shallow wine cups with rimmed mouth,[102] convex centre,[103] and foot with base rim,[104] decorated outside in three colours with fish design, and the small vermilion boxes, no bigger than a “cash,” are the gems of the period. As for the small boxes beautifully painted with blue ornament, I fear that the Imperial factories of after times will not be able to produce the like. Those who have them prize them as gems.”
A few supplementary comments in the T’ao shuo further inform us that the Mohammedan blue of the Chia Ching period was preferred very dark (in contrast with the pale blue of the Hsüan Tê porcelain), that it was very lovely, and that supplies of this blue arrived providentially at the time when the “fresh red” failed[105]; and also that the supplies of earth from Ma-ts’ang were daily diminishing till they were nearly exhausted, and consequently the material of the ware was far from equalling that of the Hsüan Tê period. The T’ao lu adds practically nothing to the above statements.
Fortunately, there are still to be found a fair number of authentic specimens of Chia Ching porcelain, but before considering these in the light of the Chinese descriptions, it will be helpful as well as extremely interesting to glance at the lists of actual porcelain vessels supplied to the palace at this time. From the eighth year of this reign, the annual accounts of the palace porcelains have been preserved in the Annals of Fou-liang, from which they were copied in the provincial topographies. Two of these lists (for the years 1546 and 1554) are quoted by Bushell,[106] and a general summary of them is given in the T’ao shuo.[107] To quote them in full here would take too much space, but the following notes may be useful to the reader, who, with his knowledge of the later porcelains, should have no difficulty in reconstructing for himself the general appearance of the court wares of the time.
The actual objects[108] supplied consisted chiefly of fish bowls (kang), covered and uncovered jars (kuan), of which some were octagonal, bowls (wan), dinner bowls (shan wan) of larger size, saucer dishes (tieh) and round dishes (p’an), tea cups (ch’a chung), tea cups (ou), wine cups (chiu chan), and libation cups (chüeh) with hill-shaped saucers (shan p’an) to support their three feet, various vases (p’ing), slender ovoid jars for wine (t’an), ewers or wine pots (hu p’ing), and wine seas (chiu hai) or large bowls. A large number of complete dinner-table sets (cho ch’i) occur in one of the lists, and we learn from the T’ao shuo that uniform sets with the same pattern and colours throughout were an innovation of the Ming dynasty. A set[109] comprised 27 pieces, including 5 fruit dishes (kuo tieh), 5 food dishes (ts’ai tieh), 5 bowls (wan), 5 vegetable dishes (yün tieh), 3 tea cups (ch’a chung), 1 wine cup (chiu chan), 1 wine saucer (chiu tieh), 1 slop receptacle (cha tou), and 1 vinegar cruse (ts’u chiu). The slop receptacle appears to have been a square bowl used for the remnants of food (see Plate [66], Fig. 1).
The sacrificial vessels of the period included tazza-shaped bowls and dishes (pien tou p’an), large wine jars (t’ai tsun), with swelling body and monster masks for handles, “rhinoceros” jars (hsi tsun) in the form of a rhinoceros carrying a vase on its back, besides various dishes, plates, cups, and bowls of undefined form.
The decorations are grouped in six headings:—
(1) Blue and white (ch’ing hua pai ti, blue ornament on a white ground), which is by far the largest.
(2) Blue ware, which included blue bowls (ch’ing wan), sky-blue bowls (t’ien ch’ing wan), and turquoise bowls (ts’ui ch’ing wan). In some cases the ware is described as plain blue monochrome, and in one item it is “best blue monochrome” (t’ou ch’ing su), while in others there are designs engraved under the glaze (an hua). In others, again, ornament such as dragons and sea waves is mentioned without specifying how it was executed. Such ornament may have been etched with a point in the blue surface,[110] or pencilled in darker blue on a blue background or reserved in white in a blue ground. Another kind is more fully described as “round dishes of pure blue (shun ch’ing) with dragons and sea waves inside, and on the exterior a background of dense cloud scrolls[111] with a gilt[112] decoration of three lions and dragons.” Bushell[113] speaks of the “beautiful mottled blue ground for which this reign is also remarkable,” and which, he says, was produced by the usual blend of Mohammedan and native blue suspended in water.
(3) Wares which were white inside and blue outside.