Page 129 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

CHINESE PORCELAINS

(1700-1722) to produce innumerable little cracks over the surface when

applied alone, but that it also rendered the object very brittle, and destroyed

its ringing tone when struck.

IMPERIAL YELLOW AND OTHER TINTS

The so-called "Imperial yellow" is among the most popularly known of
the yellow variety of glazes. Its color resembles very much the yolk
of an egg and is without crackle. The "mustard-yellow" is a heavy,

even enamel color, with a fine network of crackle ; in the finer examples
an iridescence is noticed together with porcelain of light substance and a
brown metallic-colored edge, while in all later examples the paste and glaze

are heavy and coarse, when the iridescence does not count.
Several kinds of light yellow-glazed porcelains, with transparency, were

produced in the K'ang-hsi and the later periods, having a fine even quality
without any crackle, and usually found upon a fine white paste, the finer

examples being almost as thin as egg-shell. Among these may be noted

the canary and citron or lemon-yellow, a straw-color, and a sort of sul-

phur-tinted glaze.

The purest yellows come from antimony, and the orange-tint shows

also the presence of iron.

BLACK COLORS

The black-enameled pieces, usually termed "mirror-black" on account

of their very brilliant and even surface, are noteworthy ; especially those
produced during the K'ang-hsi period, with an iridescence, sometimes re-
sembling the soft black sheen of the raven's plumage and therefore termed
" raven's-wing" black. This iridescence is found only in small specimens,

and when of perfectly uniform quality is most treasured.

Other blacks have been produced, of metallic and more or less oily sur-
face, that date back to more remote periods, and generally have a dense

[43]