Page 214 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

CHAPTER IX

k'ang hsi blue and white

WESTERN collectors have agreed to give the place of honour
to the K'ang Hsi blue and white. The Ming wares of the
same kind, mainly from lack of adequate representation,
have not yet been fully appreciated ; and in the post-K'ang Hsi
periods the blue and white took an inferior status, owing to the
growing popularity of enamelled wares. The peculiar virtues of the
K'ang Hsi blue and white are due to simple causes. Blue was still
regarded as the best medium for painted designs, and the demand
for it, both in China and abroad, was enormous. The body material
was formed of carefully selected clay and stone, thoroughly levigated

and freed from all impurities. No pains were spared in the pre-

paration of the blue, which was refined over and over again until
the very quintessence had been extracted from the cobaltiferous
ore. Naturally this process was costly, and the finest cobalt was
never used quite pure ; even on the most expensive wares it was
blended with a proportion of the lower grades of the mineral, and
this proportion was increased according to the intended quality of
the porcelain. But the choicest blue and white of this period was
unsurpassed in the purity and perfection of the porcelain, in the
depth and lustre of the blue, and in the subtle harmony between
the colour and the white porcelain background ; and the high
standard thus established served to raise the quality of the manu-

facture in general.

Vast quantities of this blue and white were shipped to Europe
by the Dutch and the other East India companies, who sent extensive
orders to Ching-te Chen. It need hardly be said that this export
porcelain varied widely in quality, but it included at this time
wares of the highest class. Indeed, in looking through our large
collections there are surprisingly few examples of the choice K'ang
Hsi blue and white which cannot be included in the export class,
as indicated by the half-Europeanised forms of plates, jugs, tankards,

128