Page 132 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

70 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

white, but with a sprinkling of coloured pieces, and it is clear from
the picture that they belong to various periods of the Ming dynasty,
mostly to the later part. They include, no doubt, presents from
the Chinese Court, ^ besides the porcelains which came in the ordinary
way of trade, and we recognise a large vase almost identical with
the fine Chia Ching specimen on Plate 72 : a small-mouthed, baluster-

shaped vase, similar in form and decoration to a marked Wan Li

specimen in the Pierpont Morgan Collection - ; a bowl with lotus
scrolls in blotchy blue, recalling the style of Plate 67, Fig. 4 ; a
ewer with the curious fountain design described on p. 67 ; besides
a number of the ordinary late Ming export types and some celadon
jars and bulb bowls of a slightly earlier period. Some of the pots,

we are told, are almost a metre in height. Among the tantalising

forms in the indistinct background are some large covered jars
with a series of loop-handles on the shoulders, such as are found
in Borneo and the East Indies (see vol. i., p. 189).

One of the most attractive types of late Ming export porcelain,
and at the same time the most easily recognised, consists of ewers,
bowls, and dishes of thin, crisp porcelain with characteristic designs
in pale, pure blue of silvery tone; see Plate 77, Fig. 1. The ware is
of fine, white, unctuous material with a tendency (not very marked)
to turn brown at the foot rim and in parts where the glaze is wanting.
The glaze partakes of the faintly greenish tinge common to Ming
wares, but it is clear and of high lustre. Here, again, a little sand or
grit occasionally adhering to the foot rim and radiating lines lightly
scored in the base indicate a summary finish which detracts from the
artistic effect no more than the obviously rapid though skilful brush-
work of the decoration. Sharply moulded forms and crinkled
borders, admirably suited to this thin crisp material, give additional
play to the lustrous glaze, and the general feeling of the ware is
Avell expressed by Mr. F. Perzynski ^ in his excellent study of the
late Ming blue and white porcelains, in which he remarks that " the
artists of this group have used thin, brittle material more like flexible
metal than porcelain."

The designs as shown in the illustration are typical of the ware.

^ It is recorded that the Emperor Wan Li sent presents of large porcelain jars to

the Mogul Emperor, and it is likely that similar presents had arrived at the Persian

Court.
* Cat., Case X, No. 245, and Plate xv.
^ Burlington Magazine, October, 1910, p. 40,