Page 67 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

WARES OF "SUNG" DYNASTY

vessel, which allows spots of red paste to become

visible."

It is convenient to speak here of another ware of

the Sung period, resembling, in its general features,

both the Kuan-yao and the "Ju-yao. This is the Jung-
yao. Like the Kuan-yao, it was manufactured origin-

ally at Kai-feng-fu, in Honan, and subsequently at
Hang-chou in Chekiang. It derived its name from
the fact that Kai-feng-fu was the eastern capital

(Jung = east) of the Sung. The clay used for its
manufacture was fine in texture, but dark. The

glaze was green, of various shades, without crackle.

The brown rim and iron-coloured base, so common

in old celadons, appeared in most of the yung-yao

pieces. This ware differed from the Kuan-yao and

yu-yao, being coarser and heavier features that con-
;

stituted decided inferiorities. One specimen of Sung

yung-yao is figured in the Illustrated Catalogue of

H'siang. It has bright green glaze, compared to

jade, with floral decoration in relief. Owing to its

thickness and solidity, examples of the "Jung-yao de-

scended to later centuries, and its colour was taken as

a model by the celadon manufacturers of Ching-te-

chen in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Hang-chou, the Quinsai of Marco Polo, was one

of the principal channels of traffic between China and

the outer world during the Sung era. There can be

little doubt that numerous specimens of early celadon

found their way from it to countries west of the

Middle Kingdom. Pieces of the yung-yao produced

at Hang-chou, were probably among the number.
One of the most important wares of the Sung

dynasty was the Lung-chuan-yao, manufactured at the

Liu-tien factory near Lung-chuan, in the province of