Page 299 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

GLOSSARY
Rouge D'OR, a rose- or crimson-tinged pink
enamel derived from gold.
S'AKYAMUNl, the historical Buddha, who died
966 B.C., and is venerated throughout China,
as in Japan, as the founder of the Buddhist
Hefaith. shares the honors of worship with
Amitabha, one of the very many factitious Bud-
dhas invented by the Mahayana school at the
Hebeginning of the fourth century of our era.
is sometimes represented with beard and shaven
head, attired in flowing garments agitated by
the winds, and holding his hands in a position
of prayer. His car-lobes are enlarged, his head
encircled by a nimbus, and his brow bears the
"ijrna" (a light-giving circle of hair, the mark
of a Buddha or Bodhisattva).
At other tunes he is represented seated upon
a thalamus, resting his left hand upon his knee
and holding up the right hand with the palm
directly forward.
The hair is represented by a blue mass re-
sembling short close curls of uniform size, and
a jewel is placed about midway between the
crown and the forehead. The "iima" and
nimbus are always present.
SANG-DE-BCEUF, a term mapplied first France
to a particularly brilliant red glaze which re-
sembles the color of "beef blood." TTie oldest
dates from the Mings, eind the finest is K'ang-
hsi.
SEGGARS, casings of clay into which pieces of
porcelain are packed for protection from injury
while in the kiln : usually so placed in the fur-
nace that each separate object may receive its
proper degree of heat.
SHAGREENED, a term applied when the surface
of porcelain shows small round points or, ac-
cording to the Chinese expression, " chicken-
flesh."
SHOU-LAO HSIANG. also called "God of Lon-
gevity." See Lao Tsze.
Note: The three slar-gods ("San H5ing")of Happiness,
Rank, and Longevity, Fu, Lu, and Shou, are often associ-
mated, but sometimes figure separately art and in porce-
lain.
Show, or Shou, a character denoting lon-
gevity, frequently represented in a circular or
seal form, and often figuring on (presentation)
porcelain : regarded as very felicitous to its
possessor. It is used in a variety of styles.
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Slip, or Engobe Decoration, a white
enamel embellishment sometimes practised by
Chinese decorators on porcelain or pottery,
somewhat resembling wedgwood or, in the
finest technical sense, the " pate sur pate " of
the French, where the white enamel is deli-
cately manipulated into raised forms of design,
usually on a celadon, blue, or carmine ground.
The finest examples of this class from China
show a delicate lace-like tracery in white over
the body glazing, done by means of a brush
with the diluted paste made of " hoa-chi,"
which is prepared to the consistency of enam-
eling liquid. The other style of slip-work is
usually noticed on rather ordinary ware, and
shows the white enamel as it flowed from the
mechanical device, without brush-work or other
manipulation.
Soft Paste, or " Pate Tendre." a particu-
lar kind of Chinese porcelain, sometimes called
Fen-ting, much lighter in weight than hard
paste, and usually distinguishable also by a
more creamy-white texture, and with fine
crackle. Pfere d'Entrecolles described a " soft
paste," or pAte tendre, made during the latter
part of the reign of K'ang-hsi (1712) as fol-
lows: " Quite recently a new material has been
found, which can be substituted for kaolin ; it
is called ' hoa-chi," and is a kind of stone or
rather chalk (steatite), of about the consistency
of hard soap. Porcelain made of this material
is very expensive. It is very brittle and diffi-
cult to bake, but offers the most desirable sur-
face for the artist to paint on, retaining the
colors perfectly ; for which reason the body of
the pieces is frequently made of common mate-
rial and the surface covered with this ' hoa-chi,'
by dipping the piece into the prepared liquid.
It is also much lighter than the average porce-
lain; and where kaolin costs but 20 sous, the
' hoa-chi ' costs an ' ^cu ' (an ^cu equaled $1.20
in 1 7 I 2), so that the latter materials cost just
five times more." The white of "hoa-chi"
was called " Siang-ya-pe," or the " white of
ivory." The various ways of mixing the com-
position of soft paste no doubt accounts for the
many and varying descriptions that appear
concerning it. See Hard Paste.
S0UFFL£, a French term, used where the colored
glaze is blown upon an object of porcelain by
means of a little tube having one end covered
with a fine gauze ; this end is dipped into the