Page 51 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

WARES OF "SUNG" DYNASTY

high official passed, were changed into jade, where-

upon the workmen closed the kiln and fled in trepi-

dation.

In addition to the choice varieties of Ting-yao de-

scribed above, there was also produced at the same

factory (in Pechili) during the Sung dynasty, a coarser

species called Tu-Ting-yao, which term literally signi-
"
fies Ting pottery." The difference between this

and the fine Ting-yao is that the pate of the former

has much greater thickness and solidity, and that the

glaze is invariably crackled, sometimes in small meshes,

sometimes in large. Occasionally the glaze is entirely

without lustre, closely resembling the shell of an egg.

The colour of this Tu-Ting-yao has a distinctly deeper

tinge of yellow than that of the fine Ting-yaoy and it

belongs altogether to an inferior order of manufacture.

Considerable quantities of it found their way to Japan,

where they were erroneously regarded, and are still re-

garded, as Cochin Chinese products. The origin of

the misconception is obscure. Possibly the Tu-Ting-

yao reached Japan in the first place via Siarn or Can-

ton, and was thus associated with southern potteries.
At all events, specimens of this so-called Kochi-yaki

(Kochi is the Japanese term for Cochin China) are
frequently found in Japanese collections, where they

constitute a source of persistent error. So far as is

known, nothing resembling them in any respect was
ever produced at the Annamese or Siamese factories.

Dr. Hirth, in his interesting brochure, "Ancient Chi-

nese Porcelain," adduces evidence from a Chinese work

(the Chu-fan-chih, by Chao Ju-kua) published in the

early part of the thirteenth century, to the effect that

the nearest of the foreign places to which porcelain

was shipped from the Middle Kingdom soon after

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