Page 449 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Porcelain Shapes in the Ch'ing Dynasty 277

in separate slabs united by cross pieces. Bushell points out that

these double plaques were frequently sawn apart and mounted in

screens, etc., as separate panels. The complete plaque is usually

decorated on one side with a figure subject and on the other witli

flowers.

We should mention also among miscellaneous objects the beautiful

hanging lanterns of egg-shell thinness or perforated in openwork

patterns the barrel-shaped garden seats ; the curious hat stands,
;

a sphere on top of a tall stem or a little box mounted on long curved

legs, the top in either case being hollow and perforated to hold

perfumes or ice or charcoal according to the season ; boxes of all

kinds small personal ornaments such as hair-pins, ear-rings, girdle-
;

clasps, rosary beads, thumb rings, finger-nail covers, tubes for

mandarin feathers, buttons and pendants ; the little bottles or flasks

originally intended for drugs but afterwards consecrated to snuff

when the Spaniards or Portuguese had introduced the tobacco

plant into China at the end of the sixteenth century ; and finally
the ornamental heads of opium pipes made chiefly in pottery.

For household use the T^ao shuo enumerates rice spoons, tea

spoons {ch^a shih), sets of chop sticks, vessels for holding candle

snuffs, wax pots, vinegar droppers, washing basins (isao p'en), pricket

candle sticks {teng ting), pillows (chen), square and round, tubs

{p'en ang), jars {wing) with small mouth, alms bowls (po) with

globular body and contracted mouth, plates {tieh), and bowls {wan) ;
and for tea and wine parties and dinner services, tea pots, wane

vessels, bowls, and dishes of every sort.

Bowls {wan) are found in many sizes and shapes, the commonest

being the small rice bowl ; the shallower type was used for soup

{Vang wan). There are deep bowls with covers which might almost

be described as jars, and there are tea bowls with covers used for

infusing tea in the absence of a tea pot. In drinking from these it

was usual to tilt the cover very slightly so as to leave only a narrow

egress for the tea and to prevent the leaves accompanying it.

When a tea pot was used, the liquid was served in a tea cup {cJia

chung) of tall upright form without handle ^ or cover. The Chinese

1 The cup with handle was made in the tea services for the European market,
but the handle is not, as has been sometimes asserted, a European addition to the cup.
Cups with handles were made in China as early as the Tang d>Tiasty (see Plate 11,
Fig. 2) ; but for both wine and tea drinking the Chinese seem to have preferred

the handleless variety.