Page 113 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Lung Ch'ing (1567-1572) 55

It is interesting to note that the imitation of the early Ming

porcelains began as soon as this, and we may infer from the usual
Chinese procedure that the marks of the Hsiian Te and Ch'eng
Hua periods were duly affixed to these clever copies.

HgLung Ch'ing (1567-1572)

We read in the T'ao shuo ^ that the Imperial factory was re-

established in the sixth year of this reign (1572), and placed under
the care of the assistant prefects of the district. This would seem

to imply that for the greater part of this brief period the Imperial
works had been in abeyance. Be this as it may, there was no

falling off in the quantity of porcelain commanded for the Court,
and the extravagant and burdensome demands evoked a protest
from Hsii Ch'ih, the president of the Censorate,- in 1571. It was
urged among other things that the secret of the copper red colour
{hsien hung) had been lost, and that the potters should be allowed
to use the iron red {fan hung) in its place : that the size and form
of the large fish bowls which were ordered made their manufacture

almost impossible : that the designs for the polychrome [wu ts'ai)
painting were too elaborate, and that square boxes made in three
tiers were a novelty difficult to construct. Fire and flood had

devastated Ching-te Chen, and many of the workmen had fled,
and he (the president) begged that a large reduction should be made

in the palace orders.

We are not told whether this memorial to the emperor had the

desired effect. In the case of the next emperor a similar protest
resulted in a large reduction of the demands. But the document
discloses several interesting facts, and among other things we learn
that the designs for some of the ware and for the coloured
decoration were still sent from the palace as in the days of
Ch'eng Hua.

The official lists of porcelain actually supplied to the Court of
Lung Ch'ing have been briefly summarised in the T'ao shuo ^ ; but
they do not include any new forms, and the motives of decoration
were in the main similar to those recorded in the Chia Ching lists.

The following, however, may be added to the summary in the pre-

vious chapter :

1 Bk. iii., fol. 7. - See Bushell, 0. C. A., p. 235.

* Bk. vi., fol. 16, and Bushell's translation, p. 152.