Page 335 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

K'ang Hsi Monochromes 199

intended to recall the ash colour {hui se) and the millet colour

{mi se) of the Sung Ko yao. Some of the light buff or "oatmeal"

crackles of the early Ch'ing period are peculiarly refined and

beautiful.

Though this has seemed a favourable opportunity for discussing
crackle glazes it is not to be supposed that they were a speciality
of the K'ang Hsi period. They are common to every age since the
Sung djmasty, and probably they were never made in such abundance
and with such care as in the Yung Cheng and early Ch'ien Lung

periods.