Page 297 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

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GLOSSARY

broken, disrespect might be shown to them or emblem of happiness or goodness ; (6) two ob-
to the Emperor. During this period of the long books placed at angles or sidewise, alle-
reign, which was of but short duration, how-
ever, a leaf, censer, ring, or other mark re- goncal of learrung (books are suspended with
placed the " nien-hao."
—other charms in the pagoda at Nanking to

ward off evil influences " Middle Kingdom,"

0RANGE-PF£L Surface, a term applied to a —Vol. 1) ; (7) two rhinoceros-homs (" se-keo"),

peculiar roughened texture produced by skilful shaped into quadrangular form at the opening
technique during the wet state of the paste, and
when glazed resembling the skin of an orange : a pair is supposed to be an emblem of happi-
found usually on rare types of porcelain.
ness (8) a leaf of the artemisia (" a' ych "),
OVF-R-GI-AZF. and UNDER-GLAZE. two modes ;

of applying colored decoration on porcelain. an emblem of good augury.
In each method the " high " or " low " or
" muffled " firing is used according to the col- PA-CHI-HSIANG. See Lucky Emblems.

ors employed. The blue decoration, for exam- PA-SIEN, the eight immortals or legendary beings
ple, under the glaze, is made with the brush of the Taoist sect, who are venerated and are
on the unbaked porcelain, which is then cov- frequently depicted on porcelain. Each has a
ered with the glazing compound, applied by special emblem or attribute which occasionally
insufflation. The " over-glaze "' decoration in occurs as a device of embellishment, and these
enamel colors is done in the muffle-kiln after are collectively known as " Pa-an-hsien," or
the surface is glazed and baked in the " high- the eight Taoist emblems of the immortals.

fire" temperature. Peach -TREE ("T'ao"). This tree holds a

prominent place in the mystical fancies of the
Taoists, and the peach is an emblem of mar-

riage and a symbol of longevity. The gum of

PA-KWA, a set of eight mystical trigrams of an- the peach-tree, mixed with mulberry-ash, is

cient Chinese philosophy, generally arranged in used as an elixir -vitae by Taoists.

an octagonal form, with the " Yang and yin"(the Peony (Mou-tan), Paeoni.3. Moutan, the symbol

primordial essences) in the center. of spring. It bears also the name of Kua-wang
("king of flowers"), and is regarded when
Developed (2852-2738 B.C.) by Fuh-hi,
blooming as an omen of good fortune. On the

other hand, if the flowers fade and the leaves

the forms were revealed to him on the back of dry up, the change foreshadows poverty or
a " dragon-horse " which rose out of the sea. other disaster to the family of its owner.
They are arranged and used in many different
In the south of China the peony represents
ways, and often appear on porceleiin as symbols. love and affection.

Chinese philosophers of remote periods have P£-TUN, a fine white fusible substance entering
with kaolin into the paste or glaze of Chinese
attempted to explain, through these mystic com- porcelain, and giving it transparency, but which
by itself would fall apart. It is a mixture of
binations of lines, all secrets of nature and being. feldspathic stone, quartz, silica, silex, and cer-

The unbroken line typifies the male, and the

broken line the female they also symbolize the
;

points of the compass. tain limestones obtained from mountains in or

PA-PAO, or " eight precious things," often em- near Lin-tching.
ployed for the decoration of porcelain. They TTie stone petrosilex (" pfe-tun ") is crushed

vary considerably in form, and the explanations in large mortars and pounded to fine powder,
of their meaning are conflicting. The usual
then put into large jars or vats filled with water,

forms bear fillets and are : ( ) an oblate spher- stirred, and allowed to stand for a short time,
1 after which the scum which rises is skimmed off
and put into another vessel. The dregs of the
ical object (" Chen '), representing the precious first jar are taken out and pounded over again

pearl (2) a disk inclosing an open square,
;

possibly a " cash," emblematic of riches (3) an
;

open lozenge placed horizontally ; (4) a lozenge the process being repeated until all the foreign
parts are removed. After settling, the water
placed horizontally, but with a second lozenge in the last jar is carefully drawn off, and the
remaining sediment or paste is pressed into
or chevron in the upper angle ; (5) a sonorous large forms and dried. Before it is quite hard
stone (" Ching " or " King "), used in remote

periods instead of a bell, and constituting an

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