Page 148 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

always been held by the Chinese, and considering the
labour bestowed on the decoration of these bowls as

well as the care with which the paste and glaze are
manipulated, it seems reasonable to class them among

representative specimens of blue-and-white of their

period. If this conclusion be correct, the qualities

of the ware did not yet entitle it to high rank among
keramic productions. The year-mark of the period

is Tung-lo mien-chi, i.e. manufactured in the Tung-lo

period ; but the ideographs are usually written in a

more archaic form.

The Hsuan-te era (14261436) is in many respects

the most remarkable period of the Ming dynasty.
The blue-and-white porcelain of this date was the

first ware of the kind that really deserved to rank

among beautiful and artistic productions. In the

quality of the porcelain itself a special change is
Nowobservable.
for the first time blue decora-

tion was successfully applied to soft-paste porce-

lain. The Tung-lo potters were little, if at all, less

skilled than those of the next reign in the manipu-
lation of their materials. But the idea does not

appear to have occurred to them that blue decora-

tion sous couverte might be applied to ware of the

Ting-yao type that is to say", ware having a sdft
soft pate the reader must
pate. By the ; not

term "

understand an artificial porcelain mass like that origi-

nally used by the potters of Sevres. The soft pate of

the Chinese keramist was distinguished from hard

porcelain biscuit simply in having a much greater

admixture of argillaceous matter. It was, in fact, semi-

porcelain, made, however, so thin and of such thor-

oughly refined materials as to be often translucid. As

to the composition of the soft pate of the Sung Ting-

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