Page 61 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

WARES OF "SUNG" DYNASTY

cular meshes, not inaptly likened by connoisseurs to

the roe of fishes : in the second, the crackle assumed

an appearance distinguished as the " crab's claw "
" Suivant 1'ouvrage
fashion. Julien's words are :

intitule khe-kou-yao-lun, ceux qui ofFraient dans le

vernis des yeux (boutons} de Tsong (Aralia} imitant

les raies des pattes de crabes, etaient encore plus
beaux : " Concerning this perplexing passage M.
" Les
Salvetat makes only the following remark :

pieces de cette sorte sont extremement rares." What

is to be understood by crackle if indeed there is

question of crackle at all compared, at the same

time, to crab's claws and Aralia leaves ? Dr. Bushell,

than whom no higher authority is to be found among

Western connoisseurs, says that these " crab's-claw "

marks, so far from being an embellishment, were

imperfections : that they were simply little holes in

the glaze, as though a crab had walked over it before
Howfiring.
pieces showing such blemishes can

have been highly esteemed, one is at a loss to under-
de Aralia " has ref-
stand. The simile of " boutons

erence to chagrined glaze, somet"hing quite different
so-called " crab's-claw marking.
from the In the

glaze of these antique wares especially in choice

specimens of Sung Chun-yao, to be presently described

serrated, or /^-shaped, lines are sometimes found

that have been erroneously supposed to belong to the
" crab's-claw " type. These lines are not crackle :

they may be better described as dappling. They are

not continuous, and it is almost inconceivable that

they can have been produced at will. Resulting,

probably, from more or less accidental conditions of

temperature in the kiln, their effect, nevertheless, is

to impart to the surface of the piece aji appearance

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