Page 410 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

248 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

turns to the vigorous beauty of the earlier and less sophisticated

types.

As already mentioned, T'ang Ying was commanded by the
Emperor in 1743 to arrange and explain twenty pictures of the
manufacture of porcelain wliich were sent to him from the palace.

In twelve days he completed the descriptions which have since been
incorporated in various books on porcelain, including the T*ao
shuo and the T'ao la. They have been translated by Julien^ and
by Bushell,^ and as most of their facts have been embodied in
the previous pages, it would be superfluous to give a verbatim
translation of them. The following summar\% however, will give
the drift of them, and Bushell's translation of the T'ao shuo can
be consulted for a full rendering.

Illustration

I. Collection of the Stones and Fabrication of the Paste.
The porcelain stone (petuntse) was obtained at this time from

Ch'i-men, in the province of Kiangnan. " That of pure colour
and fine texture is used in the manufacture of bowls and vases of
eggshell (t'o-t'ai), pure white (t'ien pai), and blue and white porce-
lain." Other earths, including kaolin, were mined within the
limits of Jao-chou Fu.
II. Washing and Purification of the Paste.
III. Burning the Ashes and Preparing the Glaze.

The ashes of burnt lime and ferns were mixed with petuntse
in varying proportions to form the glazing material,
IV. Manufacture of Seggars.

The seggars, or fireclay cases, by which the porcelain was
protected in the kiln were made of a coarse clay from Li-ch'un,
near Ching-te Chen, and we are told that the seggar-makers also
manufactured rough bowls for the use of the workmen from the
same material.
V. Preparing the Moulds for the Round Ware.

VI. Fashioning the Round Ware on the Wheel.

VII. Fabrication of the Vases (cho ch'i).
VIII. Collection of the Blue Colour.

The mineral was obtained at this time from Shao-hsing and
Chin-hua in Chekiang.
IX. Selection of the Blue Material.
X. Moulding the Paste and Grinding the Colours.

XI. Painting the Round Ware in Blue.

1 Op. cit., pp. 116-175.
^ T'ao shuo, op. cit., pp. 7-30 and 0. C. A., ch. xv.