Page 448 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

276 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

for the ink-cake {mo ch'uang), a screen {yen p'ing) behind which
it was rubbed, small water pots {shui clieng) in innumerable shapes
and served by a tiny ladle, and water droppers {shui ti) of quaint
and ingenious designs.^ There were rollers for picture scrolls {hua
chou) with porcelain ends, and stands for books in the form of
small elegantly shaped tables with three or four legs often beauti-
fully painted in enamels on the biscuit.

With these is the incense-burning apparatus which consists of in-
cense box {hsiang ho), the vase to hold the tiny tongs and shovel used
for the charcoal and incense, and the urn or burner {shao hsiang lu).
The last appears in very varied shapes, of which the most usual is
the tripod cauldron {ting) with upright ear-handles. Others take the
purely fantastic form of figures of animals, birds and even human
beings with open mouth or nostrils to emit the smoke. Tiny vases
for a single flower are usually placed upon the %\Titing table, the
furniture of which is completed by seals {yin), which are commonly
modelled after Han dynasty jades with handles in form of camels,
tortoises, dragons, tigers, etc., and small boxes to contain the seal

vermilion {yin se ch'ih).

Other porcelain objects which combined use and ornament were
plaques {pan) for screens and slabs for inlaying in pillows, beds,
couches and verandah partitions ; actual pillows of oblong or semi-
circular shape with concave surface, the inside hollow and capable
of being filled with fragrant herbs ; bowls, shaped like the Buddhist
alms bowl, for holding black and white chess pieces, and the other

requisites for chess {wei-ch'i) or go.

With regard to the plaques, we learn that the Emperor Shun
Chih gave an order in 1659 for oblong plaques 3 feet by 2| feet and
3 inches in thickness, but these like the large fish bowls were beyond

the powers of the potters at that time. Indeed Pere d'Entrecolles
tells us that in 1712, the date of his first letter,'^ the potters had

much difficulty in executing the orders given by the European

merchants for plaques for table tops, etc., and that the largest

practicable size was only about a foot square. No advantage was

obtained by giving them additional thickness to prevent the fatal
warping in the kiln, and it was found better to make the two faces

1 Among others is the " tantalus cup," with a small tube in the bottom concealed
by a figure of a man or smiling boj'. When the water in the cup reaches the top of the
tube it runs away from the base.

2 Loc. cit., p. 204.