Page 45 - The art of the Chinese potter By Hobson

AN INTRODUCTION

with golden brown ; the terms " hare's fur " or " partridge mark-
ings " are given to these brown splashes from their similarity to the
mottling of the tegument of these animals. The glaze is thick and

terminates in heavy rolls or large drops short of the foot of the
vessels, which almost invariably take the form of bowls. These
bowls were used in the tea contests and tea ceremonies that had a
great vogue in China in the past and still have in Japan to the

present day.

The same kind of glaze was used at other factory centres upon a
lighter coloured body ; many examples can be found which appear
to have been potted at Tz'u Chou, and no doubt many of the
Honan factories made similar glazes.

The golden brown markings take several forms, being widely
spaced or more closely aggregated ; while in some cases the whole
surface of the glaze may be red-brown. In other instances the
black glaze may have silvery drops on it resembling oil spots, and

this effect is prized in Japan.

There is a third type 1 of temmoku bowl of which examples may
be seen on Plates CII and CIII. The body is yellowish in colour,

and the designs drawn in the glaze are of a fairly elaborate nature,
birds, insects, and floral figuring being executed in a glaze of
different composition from that surrounding the design.

The name temmoku (t'ien mu, or Eye of Heaven) was first given

to a bowl, probably of Fukien origin, brought to Japan during the

Sung period by a Zen priest from the Zen temple on the T'ien mu

shan (Eye of Heaven mountain) in the north-west of Chekiang.
In later times the generic name of temmoku came to be applied to
the whole category of wares of this type.

In the foregoing brief review of the wares made at the main centres
of production during the Sung dynasty, we have drawn attention
to the development of a finer type of body than that used in earlier

periods. It is conceivable that the felspathic glazes then employed,
requiring as they do a higher temperature for their manipulation
and development, led to the further porcelainisation of the body

and prepared the way for the still finer bodies employed in the Ming

and later periods. If this be generally true, it must be remarked
that the ying ch'ing ware exhibits a body which, in some examples,

1 The ware is reported to have been made in the region of Chi-an Fu in

Kiangsi.

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