Page 108 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

52 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

Lo period, the conclusion is almost irresistible that we have here
in one case the fan hung decoration which replaced the hsien hung
in the Chia Ching period, and in another the ts'ui lii (emerald green),
named among the colours of the Imperial Chia Ching porcelains.

The Chia Ching monochromes already mentioned include white,
blue, sky blue, lustrous brown, turquoise, green, yellow, and auber-
gine, with or without designs engraved in the paste {an hua). None
of these call for any further comment, unless it be the distinction
between blue and sky blue of the Imperial wares. The former,
no doubt, resulted from the Mohammedan blue (blended with native
cobalt) mixed with the glaze, and must have been a fine blue of
slightly violet tone : the latter was apparently the lavender-tinted
blue which goes by the name of sky blue on the more modern

porcelains.

We read in more than one passage in the Chinese works that

the imitation of the classical porcelains of Hsuan Te and Ch'eng
Hua was practised in the Chia Ching period, and the name of a
private potter who excelled in this kind of work has been preserved.

A note on this artist, given in the T'ao lu ^ under the heading Ts%i

kung - yao, or Wares of Mr. Ts'ui, may be rendered as follows :
" In the Chia Ching and Lung Ch'ing periods there lived a man

who was clever at making porcelain (fao). He was famed for imita-
tions of the wares in the traditional style and make of the Hsiian
Td and Ch'eng Hua periods, and in his time he enjoyed the highest
reputation. The name given to his wares was Mr. Ts'ui's porcelain

(ts'ui kung yao tz'u), and they were eagerly sought in all parts of
the empire. As for the shape of his cups {ch'ien), when compared
with the Hsiian and Ch'eng specimens ^ they differed in size but
displayed the same skill and perfection of design. In the blue and
polychrome wares his colours were all like the originals. His were,
in fact, the cream of the porcelains made in the private factories

{min fao).''

1 Bk. v., fol. 9 recto.

2 -fg^. Ts'ui is a fairly common name. It occurs as a mark on a small figure of

an infant in creamy white ware of Ting tj-pe in the Eumorfopoulos Collection but it
;

is highly improbable that this piece has anything to do with the Mr. Ts'ui here in

question.

* The Ming ch'en sbih pi cbou chai yii Can, quoted in the T'ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 4,
says, " When we come to Chia Ching ware then there are also imitations of both Hsuan
Te and Ch'gng Hua types (they even are said to excel them). But Mr. Ts'ui's ware
is honoured in addition, though its price is negligible, being only one-tenth of that

of Hsiian and Ch'eng wares."