Page 241 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

ear rhythms of figure painting. From the seventeenth century on-
ward, Tc-hua ware was shipped from Amoy to Europe where, as
"blanc-de-Chine," it had a considerable vogue and was widely
imitated.
Robust Ming taste is more typically expressed in the so-called san- ENAMELLED WARES
ts'ai, "three-colour" wares. The exact origin of this family is not
known, though there is reason to believe that it may have been
produced in stoneware at Chiin-chou in Honan, where the kilns
were still active in the sixteenth century, while it was also, and
more perfectly, made in porcelain at Ching-te-chen. The colours
are generally more than three in number, but the ware takes its
name from the rich turquoise, dark blue, and aubergine that pre-
dominate. They are thickly applied in bold floral motifs and sepa-
rated by raised ridges which perform the same function as the cloi-
sons on Ming enamels. Occasionally the turquoise glaze was used
alone, as on a magnificent vase in the Percival David Foundation
inscribed on the shoulder "For general use in the Inner Palace."
Although this ware follows the range of shapes earlier made in
Chun ware—storage jars, flowerpots, and bulb bowls—the vig-
our of the shapes and the strong, rich-coloured glazes show how a6o Vase. Stoneware decorated in mit-
fj'«i (three-colour) enamels. Ming
much closer in feeling Ming art often comes to that of the T'ang Dynasty.
Dynasty than to that of the Sung.
Another important Ming family comprises the five-colour
wares (wu-ts'ai), a name given to the white porcelain painted with
enamel colours, an art which was perfected by Chinese potters,
possibly in the reign of Hsuan-te or slightly earlier. The colours
were prepared from the material of lead glaze, applied over the
glaze or directly on the biscuit, and the vessel fired again at a lower
temperature. These pieces are generally small and often of the
bodiless variety, the painting—chiefly vines, flower sprays, and 1
flowering branches—disposed with perfect taste and a subtle bal-
ance over the white ground. Sometimes, as in the tou-ts'ai ware,
the enamels were combined with underglaze blue, but this phrase,
which means "contesting colours," hardly does justice to their
delicate harmony. The five-colour enamels of the Ch'eng-hua pe-
riod were never surpassed for their purity of form and decoration; 170 "Fishjar." Porcelain decorated in
wu-u'ai (five-colour) enamels. Ming
they were already being copied in the Wan-li period, while even to Dynasty. Chia-ching period (lja»-
the expert the finest ofeighteenth-century copies are almost indis- 1566).
tinguishable from them.
Besides these exquisite enamels the sixteenth century saw the ap- EXPORT WARES
pearance of a more full-blooded style, often decorated with genre
scenes, chiefly in red and yellow; this style was to be echoed in the
wu-ts'ai wares made for export in the South China kilns—known
generally by the misleading term "Swatow" ware. No pottery
was made at Swatow itself, but some of these rough and vigorous
porcelains (both blue and white and five-colour enamels) were
made up-river at Ch'ao-chou and probably at Shih-ma in Fukien,
while a kiln producing blue and white export ware has recently
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