Page 391 - 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) 237

Owing to the tremendous difficulty of firing these huge vessels
the order for their supply in the reign of Shun Chih was eventually
cancelled, and no attempt was made to resume their manufacture
until T'ang's directorate. The usual fish bowl of the K'ang Hsi
period is a much smaller object, measuring about 20 in. (English)
in diameter by 1 ft. in height ; but from the note appended to
Hsieh Min's list in the Chiang hsi fung chih on the Imperial ta kang,
it appears that already (about 1730) the manufacture had been
resumed on the old scale,^ for the dimensions of those described
are given as from 3 ft. 4 or 5 in. to 4 ft. in diameter at the mouth,

and from 1 ft. 7 or 8 in. to 2 ft. in height. An example of inter-

mediate size is given on Plate 133, one of a pair in the Burdett-Coutts
Collection measuring 26| in. in diameter by 20 in. in height.

It remains to notice two glaze colours to which T'ang Ying appears
to have paid special attention : the fei ts'ui (turquoise) and the
viei kuei (rose colour). The former has already been dealt with
in connection with Ming, K'ang Hsi, and Yung Cheng porcelain,
and it is only necessary to add that it occurs in singularly beau-
tiful quality on the Ch'ien Lung porcelains, often on vases of antique
bronze form, but fashioned with the unmistakable " slickness " of
the Ch'ien Lung imitations. Occasionally this glaze covers a body
of reddish colour due to admixture of some coarser clay, which
seems to have assisted the development of the colour, and it is
worthy of note that there are modern imitations on an earthen
body made at the tile works near Peking which, thanks to the
fine quality of their colour, are liable to be passed off as old. I

—have noticed that Ch'ien Lung monochrome vases especially those
—which have colours of the demi-grand feu like the turquoise are

often unglazed under the base. The foot is very deeply cut, and
the biscuit is bare or skinned over with a mere film of vitreous
matter, which seems to be an accidental deposit.

The mei kuei is the colour of the red rose {mei kuei hua), and
it is obviously to be identified with the rose carmines derived from
gold which were discussed in the last chapter. These tints are
found in considerable variety in the early Ch'ien Lung porcelains,
from deep crimson and scarlet or rouge red to pale pink, and they
are used as monochromes, ground colours, and in painted deco-

ration. A superb example of their use as ground colour was

1 There are four examples of the large size of fish bowl in the Pierpont Morgan
Collection, but they are of late Ming date.