Page 207 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

K'ang Hsi (1662-1722) 121

sang de hoeuf red, an apple green crackle, and perhaps a cognate
crackled green glaze on which are painted designs in famille verie
enamels. The explanation of the term lang yao is far from clear,
and, as already hinted, the connection of the viceroy Lang T'ing-tso
with this or any other of the K'ang Hsi porcelains is by no means
established. BushelP accepted the derivation of Lang yao from
the first part of the viceroy's name as representing the best of several
Chinese theories, and on the supposition that " the ceramic pro-
duction of this time has retained the name of the viceroy, in the
same way as the names of Ts'ang Ying-hsiian, Nien Hsi-yao, and
T'ang Ying, who were in turn superintendents of the Imperial pot-
teries, were afterwards given to the Ts'ang yao, Nien yao, and

T'ang yao.'' There are many objections to this reasoning. In the
first place, Lang T'ing-tso was viceroy of the two provinces of

Kiangsi and Kiangnan for three or four years only (1665-1668)
during the reign of K'ang Hsi, and it was only in his capacity as
viceroy of Kiangsi that he would have been concerned with Ching-te

Chen, even supposing that the man who had charge of two large

provinces could find time to devote himself to the details of ceramic
manufactures. Secondly, it is nowhere recorded that Lang T'ing-tso

was concerned in any way with the direction of the potteries, so
that there is in this respect no parallel between him and the directors
Ts'ang, Nien, and T'ang. Thirdly, the history of Ch'ing-te Ch^n
as given in the T'ao lu, and the history of Chinese porcelain
as given in the T'ao shuo, make no mention whatever of lang
yao or of Lang T'ing-tso, while the former takes special notice of
the wares of Ts'ang, Nien, and T'ang, and the latter discusses
T'ang' s work at some length. Had so important a person as
the viceroy of two provinces been connected with the invention

or perfection of such celebrated wares as the lang yao, the occur-
rence would hardly have escaped the notice of the Chinese

chronicler.

There are other attempts to explain the name lang yao. In the

catalogue of Mr. A. B. Mitford's collection 2 it is stated that " the

Lang family were a family of famous potters who possessed the
secret of this peculiar glaze and paste. They became extinct about
the year 1610." Bushell ^ dismisses this with the comment that
" the family is apocryphal and the porcelain antedated," and in.

1 0. C. A., p. 302. * Quoted in the Franks Catalogue, p. 8.

3 O. C. A., p. 302 footnote.

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