Page 228 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

KANG-HE.
358
held several appointments as magistrate, and his administration
was uniformly successful. He was an opponent of Wang An-
shih, and it was through his denunciation that Wang's tablet
was removed from the Confucian temple. The peace arranged
with the China Tartars, in 1126, caused him to resign the
to which he had been and he retired
important posts appointed,
into private life, and continued awhile the course of study and
which had been his chief solace and
teaching always enjoyment.
Canonised in 1495, his tablet was in the Confucian
placed
temple."
Red Celadons.
No. 616. Bottle. 15 inches. Mark, Kang-he, in
Height,
three columns. Ts'ang Ying-hsiian, who was at King-te-chin
towards the end of this reign, is said to have given great atten-
tion to these and under the glaze reds, and this may very well
be one of his The base is and the decoration
pieces. glazed,
consists of a five- claw dragon in midst of clouds. Like all
these reds, the particular shade is difficult to describe, and
seems to alter according to the light. At places it is a rich
bright madder, which turns by degrees into smoke-coloured
clouds. The shades are so varied, that it is difficult at any
spot to fix upon the particular degree of colour. A sentence
in a letter Mr. Winthrop sent from Boston, U.S.A., upon
another describes these reds
subject, unintentionally very aptly
"
that came into towards the end of this : A
being reign lady
here has a beautiful little collection of bottles of self-coloured
*
reds (No. 842), ranging from Peach blow ' to ' sang de bo3uf,'
about sixteen in all. They would average about 10 inches in
and are
height, certainly very pretty, and, I have been told,
cost a great deal of money." This good lady, we see, had
secured some sixteen shades of these beautiful but undescribable
reds, and will, no doubt, find that she can still add to her
collection. It would be much better if, instead of buying a
piece of this and that, private individuals were to take up a
particular class and exploit it thoroughly, the collection would
be more and more valuable than one of odds and
interesting
ends. The referred to collects with
lady above, seemingly
method, and it would be well if more of us followed her
example.