Page 35 - The art of the Chinese potter By Hobson

AN INTRODUCTION

has exercised a decided influence on the ceramic art of the early
potters, and evidence of its power is seen in the figures of the
Lokapala or Guardians of the Four Quarters found in the grave
equipment of T'ang notables. Figures of Lohan or apostles of
Buddha are to be found dating from the same period, and the

great Lohan in the British Museum is a very fine example not

only of the magnificent potting of the period but of Buddhistic

art. Plates VIII and IX represent further specimens of the

figures of this epoch.

But the T'ang potters by no means confined their attention to
the production of pottery figures. While the collector will most
frequently meet with these, he will find, if he is fortunate, beautiful

vases, ewers, bowls, and dishes, all of which show much distinction
and many evidences of Western influence. In their execution the

potter employed a wide range of technique. Skilful use of slips1 of
different colours was made, and these were contrasted with the
bodies on which they were superimposed. At the same time bold
designs, generally of a floral character, were executed by incising

the paste with a sharp point.
Simpler effects were created in the wine-jars and vases which

owe their beauty to their graceful shapes and to the single coloured

—glazes washed over them. These glazes generally soft lead-
—silicate glazes are thin in their application and hardly ever con-

tinue to the base of the vessel, stopping short of the foot in an
uneven line.

It must not, however, be overlooked that although the soft lead-
silicate glazes predominate in the T'ang wares, high-fired felspathic
glazes were also in use. The view has long been held that the
T'ang potter probably was master of the secret of the manufacture
of true porcelain ; but there was no definite proof available until
the recent excavations 2 at Samarra on the Tigris established the
fact. This town flourished between 830-883 A.D., and in its buried
remains fragments of Chinese porcelain with high-fired felspathic
glazes have been found. The finds included both white glazed
specimens and fragments of celadon ware, showing that in the
second half of the T'ang dynasty the Chinese potter had reached

1 Slip is the term used to denote a liquid clay mixture.
2 See Sarre, Die Kleinfunde von Samarra, Der Islam, Zeitschrift fur Geschichte und
Kultur des Islamischen Orients. Band V, heft 2/3:

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