Page 149 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly
P. 149
PORCELAIN DECORATED
yao and its successors, tradition says nothing, and no
analysis has been made in modern times. But the
soft pate of the Hsuan-te blue-and-white ware is said
to have been obtained by adding to porcelain-stone
clay taken from the bed of the river at Ching-te-chen.
The Tao-lu speaking of the vases manufactured at
y
the imperial kilns reddu,rpilnagstitchicslaeyp;o"ch,thsaatysthtehirat"tbhiesy-
were made with "
cuit was like cinnabar," and that " the materials
all
employed were of the finest quality." M. Salvetat
was led by this description to conjecture that the
author of the Tao-lu referred to fine stone-ware of
the Grts de Flandre class. Such was not the case,
however. The Hsuan-yao is the type of a large num-
ber of porcelains manufactured continuously by Chi-
nese keramists from 1426 to 1810, and regarded by
the connoisseurs of the Middle Kingdom as the
choicest and most valuable ware of their kind (blue-
and-white). Its distinctive features are great thinness
and lightness of pate though many beautiful speci-
mens lack these special qualities a peculiar crackled
glaze, differing essentially from all other glazes run
over blue decoration, and a waxy white ground, the
snow-like purity of which contrasts exquisitely with
the colour of the decoration. The glaze being per-
fectly translucid, it is evident that the blue decoration
cannot have been applied directly to the reddish
brown biscuit. The latter had to be previously cov-
ered with some white opaque substance, on the
preparation and application of which much of the
specimen's beauty depended. Possibly steatite was
employed for the purpose. M. d'Entrecolles speaks
as follows of this mineral :
107