Page 189 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Fukien Porcelain 109

at Te-hua Hsien, in the central part of the province.^ This is the
blanc de Chine of the French writers and the modern Chien yao
of the Chinese, but to be carefully distinguished from the ancient
Chien yao with mottled black glaze which was made in the Sung
dynasty at Chien-yang in the north of the province. ^ The T'ao lu^
informs us that the porcelain industry at Te-hua began in the Ming
dynasty, that the cups and bowls usually had a spreading rim,
that the ware was known as fai tz^u (white porcelain), that it was
rich and lustrous but, as a rule, thick, and that the images of Buddha
were very beautiful. This condensed account is supplemented by
a few remarks in the K'ang Hsi Encyclopaedia,* from which we
gather that the material for the ware was mined in the hills behind
the Ch'eng monastery and that it was very carefully prepared,
but if the porcelain was worked thin it was liable to lose shape in
the kiln, and if it was too thick it was liable to crack. At first it
was very expensive, but by the time of writing (about 1700) it
was widely distributed and no longer dear.

Te-hua porcelain is, in fact, a fine white, highly vitrified material,
as a rule very translucent and covered with a soft-looking, mellow
glaze which blends so intimately with the body that they seem
to be part and parcel of one another. The glaze varies in tone
from ivory or cream white to the colour of skim milk, and its texture

may be aptly described by the homely comparison with blanc-
mange. When the ivory colour is suffused by a faint rosy tinge,

it is specially prized ; but I can find no reason for supposing that
the cream white and milk white tints represent different periods of

the ware. On the contrary, there is good evidence to show that
they were made concurrently.

As the ware is with few exceptions plain white or white decor-
ated with incised, impressed, moulded, or applied ornaments of a
rather formal and often archaic character, there will always be a
difficulty in determining the date of the finer specimens, viz. whether
they are Ming or early Ch'ing. The nature of the ware itself is a
most uncertain guide, for one of the most beautiful examples of the
material which I have seen is a figure of a European soldier which

^ T6-hua was formerly included in the Ch'iian-chou Fu, but is now in the Yung-

ch'un Chou.
* See vol. i., p. 131.
' Bk. vii., fol. 13 verso.
* Loc. cit.