Page 43 - The art of the Chinese potter By Hobson

AN INTRODUCTION

been removed to form the design so that on firing the latter stands
out as a bold relief on the exposed biscuit. In the white glazed

pieces the slip may be etched away in a similar fashion so that the

body shows below the transparent glaze in parts and the white slip
elsewhere forms the design.

Though black and white, or brown and white, decorations are the
usual embellishments of the Tz'u Chou ware, they are not the only
ones. Painted designs in red and green upon a white ground are
also found on ware resembling that of Tz'u Chou, and they con-

stitute one of the few manifestations of polychrome decoration in
the Sung dynasty.

Allied to the Tz'u Chou ware, but probably executed at some
other centre, are specimens with a reddish stoneware body and with

painted or incised designs covered with a transparent blue or green

glaze. The technique is so like that employed at Tz'u Chou that
these wares have been included in the Tz'u Chou family.

In the Ming dynasty the ware was similar and it is difficult to
distinguish between Sung and Ming specimens, except perhaps

in the type of design and the freedom with which it is executed.

The post-Ming examples show considerable falling off in artistic

qualities.

The wide range of technique employed at this centre and other
allied factories is well displayed in Plates LXXVIII to XCII

Our next group of wares, though a comparatively new one in the
experience of collectors, is perhaps the choicest of all the Sung
porcelains. Very little has been written about them hitherto, and
specimens have been hard to come by until recently ; even now
they are difficult to obtain. The opening of tombs in Honan has
brought to light a certain number of buried specimens, and these

have whetted the collector's appetite for more.

The ware goes by the name of ying ch'ing yao which signifies a
porcelain with a shadowy or misty blue glaze. The body is highly

translucent in thinly potted examples and has a white sugary

appearance. In other specimens the body, though made of similar
porcelain, is much thicker and does not transmit light. The colour

of the glaze varies from a white with a suspicion of blue in it to a

pronounced light blue. The frontispiece to this album represents

a choice example, and Plates XCIII to XCVII display other

specimens.

13 c