Page 79 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

POTTERY. — 13

there in muffle stoves. There are three principal centres of manu-
facture of pottery in the province demanding a word of notice.
The first centre is in the north of the province in the neighbourhood
of the treaty port of Amoy, from which the production is exported
by sea to all parts of the world, for the use more especially of Chinese
settlers. Large potteries are worked at Pakwoh, a village near
Shihma, between Amoy and Changchou, turning out a coarse blue
industrial ware, modelled in fantastic shapes, which is exported to
all parts of the southern provinces of China, to India, the Malay
Archipelago, and Siam. The articles are mostly intended for
domestic use and are of familiar type, so that they may be passed
by here.
The second centre is in the south of the province at the depart-
ment of Yang-ch'un, in the prefecture of Chao-ch'ing. The official
topography of the province Kuang tung t'lmg chih published in
the reign of Yung Cheng alludes, in book lii., to the pottery ware
(t'ao ch'i) produced in this department, and says :
" The potters working here in the present day are all natives of the
province of Fukien, who make nothing but imitations of the ancient celadon
wares of Lung ch'fian, and even this is not of the highest class."
This last depreciatory remark refers doubtless to the paste,
which is often ill-fired and loose in texture, as may be seen in
many of the crackled celadon vases brought from Borneo and
other islands of the eastern archipelago, some of which may be
credibly attributed to this source.
The third and most characteristic centre of the manufacture
of Kuang yao is the district city of Yang-chiang, under the juris-
diction of the same prefecture as the last, but nearer the sea coast.
A peculiarly dense, hard, and refractory stoneware is fabricated
here, the body of which ranges from reddish, brown, and dark
grey shades to black. All kinds of things are made at this place,
including architectural ornaments, cisterns, fish bowls and flower
pots for gardens, tubs and jars for storage, domestic utensils.