Page 379 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Ch'ien Lung (1736-1795) 229

porcelains with the following glazes and colours : foreign purple
{yang tzu), cloisonne blue {fa ch'ing), silvering {mo yin), painting
in ink black {ts'ai shut mo), foreign black {yang wu chin), painting
in the style of the enamels on copper {fa lang), foreign colouring

in a black ground {yang ts'ai wu chin), white designs in a black

ground {hei ti pai hua), gilding on a black ground {hei ii miao chin),
sky blue {fien la?i), and transmutation glazes {yao pien). The clay
used was white, rich {jang) and refined, and the body of the porce-
lain, whether thick or thin, was always unctuous {ni). The Imperial
wares attained their greatest perfection at this time.

The preface to T'ang's collected works, which is quoted in the
same passage, singles out as special triumphs of his genius the revival
of the manufacture of the old dragon fish bowls {lung kang) and
of the ChiJn yao, and the production of the turquoise and rose {mei
kuei) colours in " new tints and rare beauty." It is obvious from
these passages that T'ang was responsible for many of the types
enumerated in Hsieh Min's list in the preceding chapter, not only
among the reproductions of antiques but among the new inventions
of the period, such as the cloisonne blue, foreign purple, silvering,
painting in ink black, and foreign black. It follows, then, that
these novelties could not have been made much before 1730, for
T'ang was still at that time occupied chiefly with learning the
potter's art. It is equally certain that he continued to make a

specialty of imitating the older wares during the reign of Ch'ien

Lung, so that we may regard the best period of these reproductions

as extending from 1730-1750.
In reading the list of T'ang's innovations the reader will perhaps

be puzzled by the varieties of black decoration which are included.
Before attempting to explain them it will be best to review the
different kinds of black found on Chinese porcelain of the Ch'ing
dynasty. There is the high-fired black glaze, with hard shining
surface likened to that of a mirror and usually enriched with gilt
traceries. This is the original wu chin described by Pere d'Entre-
colles.i The other blacks are all low-fired colours of the muffle
kiln applied over the glaze and ranking with the enamel colours.
They include at least five varieties : (1) The dry black pigment,

do duty twice over, and leaves it doubtful whether T'ang was the inventor of these
types of decoration or merely the user of them. Both the grammar and the balance of
the sentences in the original are against this colourless rendering.

^ See p. 192.