Page 290 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

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GLOSSARY
dhistic literature and art. During the first eight
centuries of the existence of Buddhism in China,
the circle of S'akyamuni's disciples (Arhats)
comprised the same number as in India (sixteen),
which was increased in the ninth century A.D.
by the enrollment of two additional disciples to
its present complement.
BURGAUT£E, lacquered Chinese porcelciin : gen-
erally applied to a black-lacquered ground-
color elaborately inlaid with mother-of-pearl and
plates of silver or gold leaf, or landscapes with
small figures produced under K'ang-hsi.
; crackle. Another type of crackle was called
Butterfly Pattern, a mode of embellish-
ment in which this insect appears. The finest
type, as well as the rarest, was produced during
the era of K'ang-hsi, and belongs to the " fa-
mille-verte " variety. Butterflies (" Hu-tieh ")
are often employed in decoration as a sign of
conjugal felicity, and, in fact, the butterfly may
be called the Chinese Cupid.
CELAEX!)N (designated by the Chinese as
" Ch'ing "), a pale- or sea-green glaze of rather
wide range in tones, and of varying degrees of
transparency. Tlie word " celadon " was first
used to designate the bluish- or greenish-gray
costumes worn on the stage by shepherds, and
came into vogue during 1612, when the pas-
toral romance " L'Astree " was brought out by
Honore d'Urf^, " Celadon " being the neune of
the hero, who first appeared in such neutral
green cloths, so that this color was named titer
him, and became fashionable. Chinese porce-
lain soon thereafter appeared in Europe, and,
being glazed in a light green, this name was
fixed upon it directly ; but in Persia and some
other Elastern countries celadon ware was lorig
known under the name of " Martabani.
CH'-LIN. See Ky-lin.
CHING-Tfe-CHiN (Pekinese). See King-te-
chen.
Chrysanthemum, an emblem of autumn and
symbol of joviality. This flower is valued for
its variety and richness of color.
Citron Fruit. See Hand of Buddha.
Crackle, a term applied to pieces in which the
glaze exhibits a crackled effect running over the
surface like broken ice, obtained by preparing
the respective proportions of steatite, silica, and
cuumina in the composition of the glaze ; in this
manner the crackle can be produced in various
114
sizes at will. The large and more inegular
crackle on old specimens is called " crab claws,
and the smallest " fish-spawn " or " shad roe."
The fine examples of dark turquoise usually have
this latter chjiracteristic.
The oldest crackle ware dates back to the
most remote penods, emtedating that in which
porcelain was produced by many centuries.
The type called in China " Mi-se," of a pale
ciLft-3.u-l3.it color, is probably older than celadon
" Tsui-khi-yao," and was produced in the
thirteenth century. In some examples the
crackled glaze is a striking part of the embellish-
ment, especially when the network of the cracks
is filled vsath a red or black coloring ; the most
notable being those that exhibit two distinct
effects, a large crackle colored in one stain, and
a smaller in another.
Crickets are frequently kept in special cages,
cmd persons of high rank as well as others amuse
themselves by irritating two insects in a dish and
then betting on the prowess of their favorites.
Dog FO, sometimes called " lion Fo," or T'eu
Shih, a chimera with grinning muzzle and sharp
teeth, curly mane, zmd big claws, generally rep-
resented playing with a ball (" chu ") : the
habitual defender of the threshold.
DFIAGON, emblem of the Emperors of China
;
the number of claws marks the rank of the
wearer. Thus the Imperial dragon, lung, has
five claws ; and the dragon of princes of the
third and fourth ranks, only four claws.
The lung, or dragon, is chief of the four Chinese
supernatural beasts. Regarded as the king of
the scaly tribe, in its usual form it is a composite
monster with the scowling head of the camel,
homs of a deer, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow,
neck of a snake, scaly serpentine body, claws
of a hawk, formidable paws of a tiger, and
curious flame-like appendages to its shoulders.
The dragon of the sea assumably ascends
in waterspouts, and is regarded as the ruler
of all its phenomena, and as such is worshiped
and feared by Chinese fishermen. The su-
perstition of all classes towcud it is probably
a modified relic of the wide-spread serpent-
worship of cuicient times. (Williams's " Middle
Kingdom.")
In art, the colors vary according to the taste
of the artists, but white, yellow, and blue