Page 215 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

K'ang Hsi Blue and White 129

and other vessels, and by the fact that the vases are made in sets

of five. But considering that it was made to suit purchasers of

such varied tastes and means, it is surprising how little of this

K'ang Hsi porcelain is bad. Even the roughest specimens have

a style and a quality not found on later wares, and all have an

unquestionable value as decoration.

It would be futile to attempt to describe exhaustively the different

kinds of K'ang Hsi blue and white and the innumerable patterns

Wewith which they are decorated. must confine our descriptions

to a few type specimens, but first it will be useful to give the points

of a choice example. Such a vessel, whatever its nature, will be

potted with perfect skill, its form well proportioned and true. The

surface will be smooth, because the material is thoroughly refined

and the piece has been carefully trimmed or finished on the lathe,

and finally all remaining inequalities have been smoothed away

with a moist feather brush before the glazing. The ware will be

clean and white, and the glaze^ pure, limpid, and lustrous, but

with that faint suspicion of green which is rarely absent from

Chinese porcelain. The general effect of the body and glaze com-

bined is a solid white like well set curds. The base, to which the

connoisseur looks for guidance, is deeply cut and washed in the

centre with glaze which reaches about half-way down the sides

of the foot rim. This patch of glaze is usually pinholed, as though

the nemesis of absolute perfection had to be placated by a few

flaws in this inconspicuous part. The rim itself is carefully trimmed,

and in many cases grooved or beaded, as though to fit a wooden

stand, ^ and the unglazed edge reveals a smooth, close-grained bis-

cuit whose fine white material is often superficially tinged with

brown in the heat of the furnace. The decoration is carefully painted

in a pure sapphire blue of great depth and fire, and singularly free

—from any strain of red or purple a quality of blue only obtained

by the most elaborate process of refining. The designs, as on the

Ming porcelains, are first drawn in outline; but, unlike the strong

1 Pere d'EntrecoUes (second letter, section xii.) points out that the glaze used for
the blue and white was considerably softer than that of the ordinary ware, and was
fired in the more temperate parts of the kiln. The softening ingredient (which consisted

chiefly of the ashes of a certain wood and lime burnt together) was added to the glaze
material (pai yu) in a proportion of 1 to 7 for the blue and white as against 1 to 13

for the ordinary ware.

2 On some of the large saucer-shaped dishes of this period the foot rim is unusually
broad and channelled with a deep groove.

—II