Page 364 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

2i8 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

In these instances one colour seems to have been powdered or blown

on to another, the commonest kind having a powdering of ruby pink

on pale blue or green. This glaze differs from the Chiin glaze,

described above, only in the size of the pink specks. It was probably

in experimenting for the effect of the flambe Chiin glazes that T'ang

Ying acquired the mastery of the furnace transmutations {yao pie7i)
which made it possible for him and his successors to produce at

will the variegated glazes. These had been described by Pere

d'Entrecolles a few years earlier as accidental effects in his time,

but the French father already foresaw the day when they would

be brought under control.

Of the celebrated Ting Chou wares only the fine ivory white

Ting (fen ting) was copied at the Imperial factory ; but this does
not preclude the reproduction of the other kind, the creamy crackled

fu-ting, in the other potteries. There are, at any rate, many lovely

porcelains in both styles which appear to belong to the Yung Cheng

and early Ch'ien Lung periods. Coloured glazes with crackle and

crackled grey-white of the Ko type were made in great quantity,

and most of the choicer crackles in our collections, especially those

of antique appearance but on a white and neatly finished porcelain

body, date from this time.

The reproductions of Ming monochromes include the underglaze

red and the purplish blue as in the previous reign, and the eggshell

and pure white of the Yung Lo and Hsiian Te periods. The purplish

blue or chi cliing of this time is illustrated by a large dish in the

British Museum which is further enriched with gilding. It is covered

with a splendid deep blue of slightly reddish tinge, varying depth

and rather stippled appearance, and it was found in Turkey, where

this colour has been much prized. Turquoise green, aubergine

purple and yellow of the demi-grand feu, and the lustrous brown

{tzu chin) in two shades, brown and yellow, are all mentioned in

the Imperial list as used with or without engraved and carved designs

under the glaze.

As for the K'ang Hsi porcelains it may be assumed that prac-

Atically all their glaze colours were now reproduced. few only

are specified in the list, eel yellow, snake-skin green, spotted yellow,

souffle red, souffle blue (powder blue) and mirror black {wu chin).

The term souffle red may refer to the underglaze red from copper

or the overglaze iron red. The latter is further subdivided into

mo hung or ta hung, the deep red of Ming origin, and the tsaoWh hung