Page 129 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly
P. 129
SUNG AND YUAN WARES
Pong-yao, after the name of their maker. In the
neighbourhood of Ching-te-chen also, at Hu-tien-shi,
there was a factory the productions of which are
specially mentioned under the name of Hu-tien-yao.
Specimens of this ware are to be found occasionally
to-day. They owe their preservation to their dura-
bility rather than to their beauty. The pate is thick
and dense, without any of the delicacy of porcelain,
and the glaze is muddy yellow, not lacking, however,
in lustre or uniformity. The surface of these pieces
is generally relieved by deeply incised designs of
somewhat archaic character, figure subjects being
most common. Some examples are preserved in
Japanese collections, where they are known as
Ningyo-de (figure-subject variety), in allusion to the
nature of the incised designs.
Without dwelling further upon minor products of
the Yuan period, which were simply imitations of
antecedent types, attention may be at once directed
to the ware regarded as so essentially representative
of the dynasty by Chinese connoisseurs of the present
day that they call it Yuan-tsu, or " Yuan porcelain."
It is not, however, porcelain, but heavy stone-ware,
having dense, fine pate, gray or reddish gray, and
wholly opaque. The beauty of the ware resides
entirely in the glaze, which deserves admiration.
The body colour is that peculiar delicate blue, aptly
compared to moon-light, which has already been
spoken of in connection with the Chun-yao of the
Sung period, and in it are seen floating splashes or
clouds of blood red. Sometimes the clair-de-lune
surface is speckled with red, after the fashion of the
Chun-yao, of which, indeed, the Yuan-tsu is evidently
an off-shoot and for which some specimens of it may