Page 481 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Forgeries and Imitations 305

in their entirety, and mention has already been made (Vol. I.,
p. 27) of a factory at Honan Fu, where figures and vases with
streaked and mottled glazes, fantastic ewers with phoenix-spouts
and wing-like excrescences, and the like, are made with indifferent

skill.

The collector of Sung and Yiian wares, too, has many difficulties
to surmount. The fine imitations made from the Yung Cheng

period onwards, both in pottery and porcelain, fortunately are
often marked ; but sometimes the mark has been carefully removed
by grinding, and the scar made up to look like the natural sur-
face. The imitative wares made in Kuangtung, at Yi-hsing, and
in various Japanese factories have been already discussed in the
sections concerned; and there is pottery with lavender blue, "old
turquoise " and splashed glazes resembling the Chiin types, but
made at the present day in Honan and elsewhere, which is likely
to deceive the beginner. The commonest kind has a buff earthen
body which is usually washed with a dull brown clay on the exposed
parts. But such obstacles as these add zest to the collector's sport,
and they are not really hard to surmount if a careful study be made
of the character of authentic specimens. The eye can be easily
trained to the peculiarities both of the originals and of the various
imitative types, and no one who is prepared to take a little trouble
need be afraid of attacking this fascinating part of Chinese ceramics.

The T'flo lu ^ quotes an interesting note on the repairing of
antique wares : "In the Chu ming yao it is stated with regard to
old porcelain {tz^u), such as (incense-) vessels which are wanting in
handles or feet, and vases damaged at the mouth and edge, that men
take old porcelain to patch the old, adding a glazing preparation,

and giving the piece one firing. When finished it is like an old

piece, and all uniform, except that the patched part is dull in
colour. But still people prefer these specimens to modern wares.
If the process of blowing the glaze on to (the joint of the repair)
is used in patching old wares, the patch is still more difficult to

trace. As for specimens with flaws (mao), I am told that on the
Tiger Hill in Su-chou there are menders who have earned the name

of chin (close-fitters)." The collector knows only too well that
there are " close-fitters " in Europe as well as in China.

Apart from the numerous instances in which early Ming marks*

1 Bk. viii., fol. 4, quoting the Shih chUng jihcha.
2 See chap. xvii. of vol. i., which deals with marks.

—II 2 N