Page 78 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

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CHAPTER IV

CHiA CHING Mtt (1522-1566) AND LUNG ch'ing jH^ (1567-1572)

THE Imperial potteries at Ching-te Chen were busy in the long
reign of Chia Ching, grandson of Ch'eng Hua, under the

supervision of one of the prefects of the circuit who took

charge in place of the palace eunuch of previous reigns. Chinese

accounts of the porcelain of this important period, summarised in

the T'ao shuo, include passages from the late Ming and therefore

almost contemporary works, the Shih wu kan chu and the Po wu

yao Ian. In the former we are told that the Mohammedan blue

was largely used, but that the material for the " fresh red " {hsien

hungY was exhausted, and that the method of producing the red

colour was no longer the same as of old, the potters being capable

only of making the overglaze iron red called fan hung. The Po wu

yao Ian gives a more intimate description of the ware, and the

— —passage- the last in that work on the subject of porcelain may

be rendered as follows :
" Chia Ching porcelain includes blue-decorated and polychrome

wares of every description ; but unfortunately the clay brought
to the place from the neighbouring sources in Jao Chou gradually

deteriorated, and when we compare these two classes of porcelain

with the similar productions of the earlier periods of the dynasty

the (Chia Ching) wares do not equal the latter. There are small

^white bowls (ow) inscribed inside with the character ch'a (tea),

^ ^^the character chiu
(wine), or the characters tsao Vang

^M(decoction of dates), or chiang t'ang^ (decoction of ginger);

&m i^ hsien bung fu, lit. " the earth for the fresh red," an expression wliich would

naturally refer to the clay used in making ware of this particular colour, though Bushell

has preferred to take it in reference to the mineral used to produce the colour itself.

See p. 123.

* Bk. ii., fol. 10.

A* Ming writer quoted in the T'ao lu, bk. viii., fol. 4, adds that these cups were

^^ ^^marked under the base
chin lu (golden seal), :^g!S ta chiao (great sacrifice),

fan yung (altar use).

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