Page 356 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

210 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

explains as pale bluish green or eau de nil enamel ; and " European
black {ivu chin) wares." In fact the words, "foreign or European,"
seem to be practically synonymous with " opaque enamel." ^

The most complete display of the foreign colouring is given
by a special group of porcelain which is painted in a characteristic
and mannered style. It is best known as " eggshell " or " ruby-
back " porcelain, from the fact that it is usually very thin and
translucent and beautifully potted, and that the exterior of the
dishes and plates is often coated with a gold pink enamel varying
from pale ruby pink to deep crimson. It usually consists of saucer-
shaped dishes, plates, and tea and coffee wares, obviously intended
for European use. Occasionally there are vases and lanterns of
exquisite lightness and translucency, but the vase forms usually

1 Apart from the rose pinks which are derived from purple of cassius, i.e. precipitate

of gold, and the opaque white derived from arsenic, the colouring agents of the famille

rose enamels are essentially the same as those of the famille verte. The colours them-

selves were brought to Ching-tS Chen in the form of lumps of coloured glass prepared

at the Shantung glass works. These lumps were ground to a fine powder and mixed

with a little white lead, and in some cases with sand (apparently potash was also used

in some cases to modify the tones), and the powder was worked up for the painter's

use with turpentine, weak glue, or even with water. Cobaltiferous ore of manganese,

oxide of copper, iron peroxide, and antimony were still the main colouring agents.

The first produced the various shades of blue, violet, purple, and black ; the second,

the various greens ; the third, coral or brick red ; and the fourth, yellow of various

Ashades. little iron in the yellow gave the colour an orange tone.

The modifications of the green are more numerous. The pure binoxide of copper

produced the shade used for distant mountains {shan lii), which could be converted

into turquoise by the admixture of white. The ordinary leaf green was darkened by

strengthening the lead element in the flux and made bluer by the introduction of

potash in the mixture. Combined with yellow it gave an opaque yellowish green colour
known as ku lil (ancient green) ; and a very pale greenish white, the " moon white "

of the enameller, was made by a tinge of green added to the arsenious white.

The carmine and crimson rose tints derived from the glass tinted with precipitate

of gold, which was known as yen chih hung (rouge red), were modified with white to

produce the /en hung or pale pink ; and the same carmine was combined with white

and deep blue to make the amaranth or blue lotus (ch'ing lien) colour.
The ordinary brick red (the ta hung or mo hung) was derived from peroxide of iron

mixed with a little glue to make it adhere, but depending on the glaze for any vitri-

fication it could obtain. The addition of a plumbo-alcaline flux produced the more

brilliant and glossy red of coral tint known as tsao'rh hung (jujube red).

The dry, dull black derived from cobaltiferous manganese was converted into a

glossy enamel by mixing with green. This is the famille rose black as distinct from

the black of the famille verie, which was formed by a layer of green washed over a

layer of dull black on the porcelain itself.

There are, besides, numerous other shades, such as lavender, French grey, etc.,

obtained by cunning mixtures, and all these enamels were capable of use as monochromes

in place of coloured glazes as well as for brushwork.