Page 443 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Nineteenth Century Porcelains 271

But the collector's interest in Kuang Hsii porcelain is of a negative
kind. When it is frankly marked he sees and avoids it. But the

Chinese potters towards the close of the century evidently recovered
some part of the skill which the ravages of the T'ai p'ing rebels seemed

to have effectually dissipated ; for they succeeded in making many
excellent sang de hoeiif reds and crackled emerald green monochromes
which have deceived collectors of experience. Even the best, however,
of these wares should be recognised by inferiority of form and material,
and in the case of red the fluescent glaze will be found in the modern

pieces to have overrun the foot rim, necessitating grinding of the base
rim. There are also fair imitations of the K'ang Hsi blue and white
and the enamelled vases of famille verie or on-biscuit colours, and
even of the fine black and green grounds. But here again the
inferior biscuit, the lack of grace in the form and the stiffness of the

designs will be at once observed by the trained eye. When marked

most of these imitations have the nien hao of K'ang Hsi, and this is
almost invariable on the modern blue and white.

There is, of course, a great quantity of modern porcelain, chiefly
enamelled and blue and white, made for the export trade and sold

at prices which compete successfully with those of the European
wares. It is chiefly in the style of the K'ang Hsi and Ch'ien Lung
wares, and is marked accordingly; but the ware is coarse-grained,
and the decorations summary, and there is no excuse for mistaking

these obvious reproductions for anything but what they are and,

in fact, what they pretend to be.

^^The brief reign of Hsiian T ung (1909-1911) is a blank

so far as ceramic history is concerned ; and with the fall of the

Ch'ing dynasty in 1912 the Imperial works ceased its activity, and

it remains to be seen whether Ching-te Chen will again have the

advantage of a state factory to set a standard for the industry in

general.