Page 145 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

former with one of the latter the average blue of about
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equal parts, and this came out of the kiln with each stroke

of the brush clearly defined. The first-class blue mixed

with much water and spread over the surface in mass, gave

a pure and transparently bright tint.

The Tao-lu states that ten ounces of the imported
blue in its unrefined state cost three dollars. Thus

the cost after refinement was more than a dollar

Aand a half per ounce. special class of experts de-

voted themselves to judging its quality. To the

choicest grade they gave the fanciful epithet " blue of

the head of Buddha." Nothing is known as to the

exact composition of this Mohammedan blue. The

native Chinese mineral, with which the potters of

the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced

beautiful results, has been analysed by M. Salvetat.

His result is as follows :

Silica 37-4^ Lime 0.60
0.44
Oxide of Copper . . 4.75 Magnesia . . . Trace
5.50 Arsenious Acid . Trace
....Alumina
27.50 Oxide of Nickel, Sul-
Oxide of Cobalt . . 1.65
phur, &c. . . . Traces
Oxide of Manganese Moisture. . . . 20.00
Oxide of Iron . .

With the accession of the Ming dynasty (1368),

the golden period of Chinese keramics may be said

to have commenced. The first sovereign of the

dynasty was Hung-wu, who reigned from 1368 to

1399. In the second year of his reign a special

factory at Ching-te-chen was appointed to supply the

Court. Its products were named Kuan-yao, or Kuan-

tsu This name Imperial Ware was thenceforth
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applied to several varieties of choice keramic manu-

factures, which the connoisseur will, of course, be

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