Page 96 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

44 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

would certainly have been assigned to the Wan Li period were it

not for the Chia Ching mark. This is, no doubt, the native cobalt

without any admixture of Mohammedan blue.
The body material in these specimens varies scarcely less than

the blue. In the colour stand on Plate 77 the ware is a pure clean

—white, both in body and glaze. On other specimens particularly the

large, heavily built jars and vases made for export to India and Persia

—the ware is of coarser grain, and the glaze of grey or greenish

tone. The tendency of the Ming biscuit to assume a reddish tinge
where exposed to the fire is exaggerated on some of these large
jars, so that the exposed parts at the base and foot rim are some-
times a dark reddish brown. Doubtless the clay from different mines
varied considerably, and the less pure materials would be used on
these relatively coarse productions. On the other hand, the better
class of dish and bowl made for service at the table is usually of
clean white ware, potted thin and neatly finished, and differing
but little in refinement from the choice porcelains of the eighteenth
century. Such are the dragon dish described on p. 32 and the
polychrome saucers which will be mentioned presently.

The export trade with Western Asia and Egypt, both by sea
and land, must have been of considerable dimensions in the middle
of the sixteenth century. Broken pieces of Chinese blue and white
are found on all the excavated sites in the Near East, and the influ-

ence of the Chinese porcelain is clearly seen in the blue, or blue

and brown, painted faience made in Persia, Syria, and Egypt in
the sixteenth century. The reflex influence of Persia on the Chinese
wares has already been noted, and it is clear that Persian taste
was studied by the makers of the dishes, bottles, pipes, and other
objects with birds and animals in foliage and floral scrolls of decidedly
Persian flavour, which are still frequently found in the Near East.
It was this type of Chinese porcelain which inspired Italian maiolica

potters in their decoration alia porcellana, as well as the decorators
of the Medici or Florentine porcelain, the first European porcelain

of any note. Fran9esco Maria, the patron of the Medici porcelain,
died in 1587, and as little, if any, of the ware was made after his

death, the rare surviving examples may be safely taken as reflect-

ing, where any Chinese influence is apparent, the influence of the
mid-sixteenth century porcelains.

An interesting series of Ming blue and white export wares col-

lected in India was lent to the Burlington Fine Arts Club in