Page 170 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

94 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

tint in the Ming period was greenish. Indeed, this is the prevaihng
tone of Chinese glazes, but it is perhaps accentuated by the thick-
ness of the Ming glaze. This greenish tinge is most noticeable
when the ware is ornamented with delicate traceries in pure white
clay or slip under the glaze.

As for the shape of the various Ming wares, much has already

been said in reference to the various lists of Imperial porcelains,
more particularly with regard to the household wares such as dishes,

bowls, wine pots, boxes, etc. No precise description, however, is
given in these lists of the actual forms of the vases, and we have to

look elsewhere for these. There are, however, extracts from books
on vases ^ and on the implements of the scholar's table in the T'^ao
shuo and the T'ao lu, in which a large number of shapes are enumer-
ated. Observation of actual specimens shows that bronze and metal
work supplied the models for the more elaborate forms M'hich would
be made, partly or wholly, in moulds. These metallic forms, so

much affected by the Chinese literatiis, though displaying great clever-
ness in workmanship and elaboration of detail, are not so pleasing

to the unprejudiced Western eye as the simple wheel-made forms
of which the Chinese potter was a perfect master. Of the latter,

the most common in Ming porcelains are the potiche-shaped covered

jar (Plate 80) and the high-shouldered baluster vase with small
neck and narrow mouth (Plate 84), which was known as mei pHng
or prunus jar from its suitability for holding a flowering branch of
that decorative flower. Next to these, the most familiar Ming forms
are the massive and often clumsy vases of double gourd shape,
or with a square body and gourd-shaped neck, bottles with taper-
ing neck and globular body, ovoid jars, melon-shaped pots with
lobed sides, jars with rounded body and short narrow neck, all
of which occur in the export wares. These are, as a rule, strongly
built and of good white material, and if the shoulders are contracted

^ e.g. The P'ing shih, the P'ing hiia p'u, and the Chang wu chih, all late Ming
works. An extract from the second (quoted in the T'ao lu, bk. ix., p. 4 verso) tells
us that " Chang Te-ch'ien says all who arrange flowers first must choose vases. For
summer and autumn you should use porcelain vases. For the hall and large rooms
large vases are fitting ; for the study, small ones. Avoid circular arrangement and
avoid pairs. Prize the porcelain and disdain gold and silver. Esteem pure elegance.
The mouth of the vase should be small and the foot thick. Choose these. They stand
firm, and do not emit vapours." Tin linings, we are also told, should be used in winter
to prevent the frost cracking the porcelain ; and Chang wu chih (quoted ibidem, fol. 6
verso) speaks of very large Lung-ch'uan and Chiin ware vases, two or three feet high,
as very suitable for putting old prunus bouglas in.