Page 303 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

K*ang Hsi Monochromes 177

a pale red, becoming pink in some parts, in others mottled with

russet spots, displayed upon a background of light green celadon

tint. The last colour occasionally comes out more prominently,

and deepens into clouds of bright apple green tint." The Chinese,

in comparing the colour, have thought of the apple rather than the

peach it is p'in-kuo hung (apple red), and the markings on it are
;

p'in-kuo ch'ing (apple green), and mei kuei izu (rose crimson).

Another Chinese name for the colour is chiang-tou hung (bean red),

in allusion to the small Chinese kidney-bean with its variegated
pink colour and brown spots.

It is generally supposed that, like the sang de hceitf, the " peach
bloom " owes its hue to copper oxide, and that all the accessory

tints, the russet brown and apple green, are due to happy accidents
befalling the same colouring medium in the changeful atmosphere of

the kiln.i This precious glaze is usually found on small objects

such as water pots and brush washers for the writing table (see

Plate 111 2), and snuff bottles, and a few small elegantly formed

flower vases of bottle shape, with high shoulders and slender neck,

the body sometimes moulded in chrysanthemum petal design, or,

again, on vases of slender, graceful, ovoid form, with bodies taper-

ing downwards, and the mouth rim slightly flaring. In every case

the bottom of the vessel shows a fine white-glazed porcelain with

unctuous paste, and the K'ang Hsi mark in six blue characters

written in a delicate but very mannered calligraphy, which seems

to be peculiar to this type of ware, and to a few choice clair de lune

and celadon vases of similar form and make.

^ The general reader will probably not be much concerned as to whether the peach
bloom was produced by oxide of copper or by some other process. Having learnt the
outward signs of the glaze, he will take the inner meaning of it for granted. Others,
however, will be interested to know that practically all the features of the peach bloom
glaze, the pink colour, the green ground and the russet brown spots can be produced
by chrome tin fired at a high temperature. I have seen examples of these chrome tin
pinks made by Mr. Mott at Doulton's, which exhibit practically all the peculiarities of

the Chinese peach bloom. It does not, of course, follow that the Chinese used the

same methods or even had any knowledge of chrome tin. They may have arrived at
the same results by entirely different methods, and the peach bloom tints developed
on some of the painted underglaze copper reds point to the one which is generally

believed to have been used ; but the difference between these and the fully developed
peach bloom is considerable, and though we have no definite evidence one way or the

other, the possibilities of chrome tin cannot be overlooked.
2 The form of tliis water pot is known (according to Bushell, 0. C. A., p. 318) as the

Tai-po tsun, because it was designed after the traditional shape of the wine jar of Li
T'ai-po, the celebrated T'ang poet. In its complete state it has a short neck with

sliglitly spreading mouth.

—II