Page 68 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

28 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

In 1457, when Cheng T'ung was released and returned to the throne
under the title of T'ien Shun^ (1457-1464), the Imperial factory
was re-established, and the care of it again entrusted to a palace
eunuch. There are no records, however, of the wares made in
these periods, though we may assume that the private factories
continued in operation even when work at the Imperial pottery
was suspended. The directorship was again abolished in 1486, and
porcelain is not mentioned in the official records until the end of
the reign of Hung Chih ^ (1488-1505).

In Hsiang's Album ^ we are told that the pale yellow of the
Hung Chih period was highly prized, and that the polychrome
wares vied with those of the reign of Ch'eng Hua. Four examples
are given ; an incense burner, a cup moulded in sunflower design,
and a spirit jar (all yellow), besides a gourd-shaped wine pot with
yellow ground and accessories in green and brown, apparently
coloured glazes or enamels applied to the biscuit. The yellow
glazes are described as pale yellow (chiao ^ huang), and likened to

the colour of steamed chestnuts {cheng li ^) or the sunflower {k'uei
hua ^).

WeThe yellow colour is of old standing in Chinese ceramics.

have found it on T'ang pottery, in the mi se of the Sung period,
in the blackish yellow of the Yiian ware made at Hu-t'ien, and in
the early Ming porcelains. Peroxide of iron or antimony are the
usual metallic bases of the colour, and it was used either in high-
fired glazes or in enamels of the muffle stove. The yellow for which
the Hung Chih period was noted was a yellow glaze, applied direct
to the biscuit, or added as an overglaze to the ordinary white

porcelain. When applied to the biscuit it assumes a fuller and
browner tint than when backed by a white glaze. These yellow

glazes often have a slightly mottled or stippled look, the colour
appearing as minute particles of yellow held in suspension in the

glaze.

Marked examples, purporting to be Hung Chih yellow, are occa-

sionally seen, but the most convincing specimen is a saucer dish
in the Victoria and Albert Museum, of good quality porcelain, with

a soft rich yellow glaze and the Hung Chih mark under the base
in blue. Part of its existence was spent in Persia, where it was

^ XM.- * 4^, delicate, beautiful.

'5i.^- 'mm-
»0p. cit., No. 42,
* ^?E-