Page 444 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

CHAPTER XVI

PORCELAIN SHAPES IN THE Ch'iNG DYNASTY

ACONSIDERABLE number of the forms which Chinese porce-
lain assumes have been described in the chapters deaUng
with the ]\Iing wares ; but these may be usefully sup-
plemented by a rapid survey of those employed by the potters of

the Ch'ing dynasty. The latter will, of course, include many

of the former because the Chinese delight in reproducing the

older types.

The brief summary of the eighteenth-century porcelain forms

given in the opening pages of the T'ao shuo ^ begins in the correct

style with the reproductions of the ancient ritual vessels tsun, lei,

yi, ting, yu and chilo. These are all bronze forms, tsun being applied

to wine vessels, lei to vases ornamented with the meander pattern
known as " cloud and thunder " scrolls,^ yi to bowl-shaped vessels

wdthout feet, ting to cauldrons with three or four legs and two handles,

yu to wine jars with covers, and large loop handles for suspension,

and chiio to libation cups of helmet and other shapes. The bronze
forms are commonly decorated with bronze patterns such as the

key- fret, archaic dragon and phoenix scrolls, cicada pattern, ogre heads

and bands of stiff (banana) leaves, either painted, moulded, engraved,

or carved in relief; and the complicated bronze shapes are usually

fashioned in moulds, and in many cases furnished with ring handles

attached to monster heads. Another ritual type manufactured in

porcelain as well as bronze is the altar set of five pieces {wu kung),

which consists of a ting or tripod incense vase, two flower vases,

Aand two pricket candlesticks. huinbler altar set was composed

of a single censer or a tazza-shaped cup (Plate 93, Fig. 1) for
flowers, and a pair of lions on stands fitted with tubes for holding
sticks of incense. The bronze forms have always been used by

1 Bk. i., fols. 1 and 2 ; see Bushell, op. cit., pp. 3-6.
* This is a variety of the key pattern or Greek fret, which is of world-wide distri-
bution.

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