Page 49 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

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POTTERY. 7

example shown in Fig. i, which is extracted from the Chin Shih So,
cited in Vol. I., page 75. The mythological figures inclosed in a
rectangular panel surrounded by a geometrical border represent the
four quadrants of the Chinese uranoscope, being : i. The Blue
Dragon of the East. 2. The Black Warriors, Tortoise and Serpent
of the North. 3. The Red Bird of the South. 4. The White Tiger
of the West. The eight archaic characters filling in the intervals
read Ch'ien ch'iu wan sui ch'ang lo wei yang, " For a thousand
autumns and a myriad years everlasting joy without end." There
are many earthenware roof tiles of corresponding date figured in the
same book, and the round flanges of the lowest tier are usually
moulded with inscriptions of like good augury, pencilled so as to fill
in the circular space with an ornamental design.
Pottery has always been an important adjunct to Chinese archi-
tecture, as described in Chap. III., where a brief account was given
of the use of moulded antefixal ornaments of terra cotta, and of the
roofing of buildings with enamelled tiles coloured in obedience to
strict sumptuary laws. The colours employed in China are powdered
glazes made with a lead flux, and the method of application is
worthy of notice, being somewhat like that of the firing of salt-
glazed ware in Europe. After the tiles have been appropriately
stacked in the kiln, the fire is lighted, and at the proper moment of
combustion the pulverised enamel is thrown in through an aperture
in the top of the kiln, to fall on the free surfaces of the tiles, melt,
and coat them with one of the rich deep glazes of brilliant
sheen which are so characteristic. The coloured glazes are used in
combination, as well as singly, as may be seen in a variety of objects
in European museums brought from the summer palaces at Yuan
Ming Yuan which were burned in i860, such as large images of
Kuan-Yin enamelled with turquoise blue and other soft colours
posed on purple pedestals, smaller Buddhist images once built in
the brick walls of temples, dragons, k'ilins, phoenixes, and other
grotesque figures that once formed antefixal ornaments of walls.
S941. E