Page 85 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

WARES OF "SUNG" DYNASTY

pig's liver, since the red, ch'ing and green colours got

mixed together like saliva hanging down through not

being sufficiently fired, are not to be distinguished as
different kinds. For, such names as " mucus," or

" liver," which are given to this class of porce-

pig's

lain, have been invented for fun's sake. Among these

porcelains, those which have bottoms like the flower-

pots in which sword-grass is grown, are considered

the most excellent the others, viz., those which have
;

bottoms like ton-shaped censers, Ho-fang jugs or

Kuan-tsii, are all of a yellowish, sandy paste, for

which reason they are not good in appearance ; they
have been made in recent years at I-hsing, the paste

consisting of a gritty clay, though the enamel some-

what resembles the better class article but they do
;

not stand wear and tear.'

Refering to the simile of kingfisher's plumage,

Dr. Hirth -

says :

To a European eye the tints appearing in old Chun-yao

porcelains, besides the reddish colours, are perhaps rather
bluish than greenish ; but it should be considered that, by
the admixture of white and red materials, the exact descrip-
tion must have been very difficult to a Chinese writer.
Probably no better metaphor could have been found for the
colour described than the plumage of the parrot (ying-ko-lii),

if we think of the red-tailed bird of a greyish plumage,

which is so superior to all other varieties for its linguistic

faculties.

Referring to the numbers on the bottom, he

says :

Julien (p. 74) translates : c Les vases qui portaient au des-
'
sous du pied les characteres numeriques, /., (un), eul (deux) ;

eitel (China Rev., vol. x., p. 311) : 'Specimens bearing one

or two numerical characters at the bottom.' I have, against

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