Page 211 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

K'ang Hsi (1662-1722) 125

where the grinding was cleverly masked. So that it behoves the
collector to be on his guard.

Fig. 2 of Plate 88 shows another type of red, also classed as lang
yao, which has the same peculiarities of texture as the sang de hoeuf,
but the colour is more of a crushed-strawberry tint, and has in a more
marked degree that thickly stippled appearance which suggests that
the colour mixture has been blown on to the ware through gauze.
This is probably the cKui hung or souffle red mentioned by Pere
d'Entrecolles in connection with the yu li hung. The same glaze is

often found on bowls, the colour varying much in depth and the

base being usually covered with a crackled green glaze beneath. This
crackled green is a very distinctive glaze, highly translucent and full
of bubbles, like the red lang yao, and it is sometimes found covering
the entire surface of a vase or bowl and serving as a background
for paintings in famille verte enamels. It seems, in fact, to be the
true green lang yao, and one is tempted to ask if it was not in
reality intended to be a sang de hceuf red glaze from which a lack of
oxygen or some other accident of the kiln has dispelled all the red,

leaving a green which is one of the many hues produced by copper

oxide under suitable conditions. These conditions might well be
present in such an enclosed space as the foot of a bowl ; and if they
happened to affect the whole of the piece, what more natural
than to trick out the failure with a gay adornment of enamel

colours ?

On the other hand, w^hat is commonly known as green lang yao

is the brilliant emerald or apple green crackle which has already

been discussed on p. 102. But why this colour should be con-
nected in any way with the Lang or any particular family is a
mystery. The method of producing it is transparently obvious

a green enamel laid over a stone-coloured crackle ; and there are
examples of all periods from the Ming down to modern times. Indeed,
the modern specimens are only distinguished with the greatest
difficulty from the old.

To return to the history of the period from which we digressed

to discuss the lang yao, the progress of the reviving industry suffered

a rude set-back between 1674-1678 when the Imperial factory

Wuwas destroyed during the rebellion of San-kuei, viceroy of

Yunnan. It is improbable that up to this time any notable develop-

ment had taken place in the manufacture of porcelain, and those