Page 288 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

ably for that reason, as well as on account of the

extremely perishable nature of porcelain thus deco-

rated, specimens are exceedingly rare and highly

prized. The design is generally of a formal charac-

ter, as bands of diaper or star pattern ; but occasionally

dragons or leaves and blossoms are thus treated. In

America, porcelain with pierced ornamentation is
commonly known as " Grains-of-rice-ware." In
" Hotaru-de" "
Japan it is called or style."
fire-fly

The precise date of its origin is uncertain, but there

is every reason to conclude that it was not manufac-

tured before the Kang-hsi era (1661 1722). Mr.

A. W. Franks says that " in Persia, white bowls of a

soft, gritty porcelain were made, which have rude

decorations of the same nature, but there is no evi-

dence to show in which country, China or Persia,

such a mode of ornamentation originated." Numer-

ous specimens from the workshops of the nineteenth

century are to be met with but if the collector
;

remembers to look always for a pure white, lustrous

porcelain and accurately cut designs into which the

transparent glaze is run with uniform precision, he is

not likely to fall into error. These features are in-

variably absent in modern pieces, which show uneven-

ness of surface and a distinctly marked tinge of green

in the glaze of the pierced portions. In China this

ware is called Yen-ching-tou-hwa.

Porcelain ornamented with white slip may be

spoken of here as occupying an intermediate place

between enamelled wares and monochromatic or poly-

chromatic glazes. Chinese potters do not seem to

have practised this method largely. They employed

it chiefly in conjunction with the brown or coffee-

coloured glaze called Tsu-chin-se, the fond lacque of

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