Page 79 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

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Chia Ching (1522-1566) 35

these are the sacrificial altar vessels regularly used by the Emperor
Shih Tsung (i.e. Chia Ching), and they are called white altar cups,
though in form and material they are far from equalling the Hsiian
Te vessels. The Chia Ching shallow wine cups with rimmed mouth,
convex centre,- and foot with base rim,^ decorated outside in three
colours with fish design, and the small vermilion boxes, no bigger
than a " cash," are the gems of the period. As for the small boxes
beautifully painted with blue ornament, I fear that the Imperial
factories of after times will not be able to produce the like. Those
who have them prize them as gems."

A few supplementary comments in the T'ao skuo further inform

us that the Mohammedan blue of the Chia Ching period was preferred
very dark (in contrast with the pale blue of the Hsiian Te porcelain),

that it was very lovely, and that supplies of this blue arrived pro-
videntially at the time when the " fresh red " failed ^ ; and also
that the supplies of earth from Ma-ts'ang were daily diminishing
till they were nearly exhausted, and consequently the material of
the ware was far from equalling that of the Hsiian Te period. The
T'ao lu adds practically nothing to the above statements.

Fortunately, there are still to be found a fair number of authentic
specimens of Chia Ching porcelain, but before considering these in

the light of the Chinese descriptions, it will be helpful as well as

extremely interesting to glance at the lists of actual porcelain vessels

supplied to the palace at this time. From the eighth year of this

reign, the annual accounts of the palace porcelains have been pre-
served in the Annals of Fou-liang, from which they were copied in

the provincial topographies. Two of these lists (for the years 1546
and 1554) are quoted by Bushell,^ and a general summary of them
is given in the T'ao shuo.^ To quote them in full here would take
too much space, but the following notes may be useful to the reader,

^ Ch'ing k'ou, lit. mouth like a gong or sounding stone.

Man- hsin, lit. loaf-shaped centre.

' Yuan isu, lit. foot with outer border.

' An extract from the / Chih (quoted in the T'ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 14) states that

" in the 26th year of Chia Ching, the emperor demanded that vessels should be made

with ' fresh red ' {hsien hung) decoration ; they were difficult to make successfully,

and Hsii Chfin of the Imperial Censorate, memorialised the throne, requesting that

Ared from sulphate of iron (Jan hung) be used instead." memorial of similar tenor

was sent to the emperor by Hsii Ch'ih in the succeeding reign.

5 0. C. A., pp. 223-6.

" Bk. vi., fois, 9-15. See also Bushell's translation op. cit., pp. 145-51, and 0. C. A.,

loc. cit.