Page 333 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

K'ang Hsi Monochromes 197

kept up by applying a touch of glaze inside the mouth of the

unglazed vessel.

Biscuit porcelain is specially suitable for figure modelling,

because the sharpness of the details remains unobscured by glaze.
It has been largely employed in European porcelain factories for
this purpose, but the Chinese seem to have been prejudiced against
this exclusive use of the material. As a rule they reserve it for the

fleshy parts of their figures, giving the draperies a coating of glaze

Aor of enamel or both. rare example of the use of biscuit is illus-

trated in the catalogue of the Walters Collection (O. C. A., Plate
XXIX.), a white bottle with a dragon carved out of the glaze and

left in biscuit.

The white wares so far described were made of the ordinary

porcelain body and glaze, but there is another group of whites which
is ranked with the so-called " soft pastes." This is a creamy, opaque

and often earthy-looking ware, the glaze of which is almost always

crackled. It is in fact an imitation of the old Ting yao (q.v.),

and its soft-looking surface and warm creamy tone are seen to per-

fection in small vases, snuff bottles, and ornamental wares. Indeed,

the elegantly shaped and finely potted vessels of this soft, ivory

crackle are among the gems of the period.
Crackle is a feature which is common to many of the mono-

chromes, and incidental mention has frequently been made of it

in the preceding pages. It is essentially a Chinese phenomenon,

dating back to the Sung dynasty, and there are various accounts

of the methods employed to produce it. We are speaking of the

intentional crackle which is clearly defined and usually accentuated

by some colouring matter rubbed into the cracks, as opposed to the

accidental crazing which appears sooner or later on most of the glazes

of the demi grand feu, and on many low-fired enamels. One crackling
process used by the Sung potters has been described on p. 99, vol. i.

Another method is mentioned in the K'ang Hsi Encyclopaedia, ^ viz.

to heat the unglazed ware as much as possible in the sun, then plunge

it into pure water. By this means a crackle was produced on the

ware after the firing.

But the normal process in the Ch'ing dynasty seems to have been

Ku^ chin Cu shii, section xxxii., vol. 248, fol. 15. In this way, we are told, were

produced (1) the thousandfold millet crackle and (2) the drab-brown (ho) cups. The
colour of the latter was obtained by rubbing on a decoction of old tea leaves. The
former is a name given to a glaze broken into " numerous small points."