Page 46 - The art of the Chinese potter By Hobson

THE ART OF THE CHINESE POTTER

is as fine as any subsequently achieved by the Chinese potter, and
that a good white porcelain was already made in the T'ang period.

The glaze effects of the Sung potter show a marked advance on

those of his predecessors and exhibit a considerable mastery of
technique. But it is probably in his artistic sense that the Sung
potter chiefly excelled. Both in the simple shapes he used and in
the designs he executed there is a subtlety which is generally lacking

in the art of his successor. The shapes may be heavily fashioned,
they may be simplicity itself, but it is rare indeed to find an example
of Sung workmanship that does not make some appeal to our senses.

The drawing on the vessels whether executed by an incising tool,
or by relief ornament or by bold washes of glaze colours, is invari-

ably distinguished in character. It was the result of a relatively
few strokes, as a rule, and the design is always in keeping with the
vessel on which it is portrayed. With the growth of knowledge,
elaboration of technique was exhibited later, and science to-day

may be able to repeat the glaze effects of Sung times ; but where
the modern craftsman will fail is in the reproduction of the Sung
drawing, unless considerable advances are made in artistic feeling
in modern ceramic work.

The ideals of the Sung dynasty, whether in artistic expression or

in philosophic thought, have always held a high place in Chinese

estimation ; so far as Sung art is concerned, the West has accepted
that view and will continue to do so.

With the coming of the Mings, the old factories, which had
supplied the ceramic needs of the Sung and Yuan dynasties, receded
into the background, and Ching-te Chen rose into pre-eminence,

Ching-te Chen, in northern Kiangsi, is the home of porcelain

proper. It was probably the source of the white porcelain found
in the gth-century ruins of Samarra, on the Tigris ; and in the Sung
period it produced a white ware which carried on the traditions of
the Ting.

Changing fashion in the Ming period decreed that the famous
monochromes of the celadon class should give place to white

porcelain decorated with pictorial designs in coloured glazes, in

overglaze enamels and in underglaze blue ; and the only mono-
chrome which appears with frequency among Ming porcelains is the

pure white.

By far the largest Ming group is composed of the blue and white

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