Page 318 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

chapter, was celadon and celadon only. From the be-

ginning of the fifteenth century until the present day,
the term Kuan-yao has been applied in China to all

choice wares which had the honour of being specially

manufactured for use in the Palace.

The manufacture of thin white porcelain of the 70-

tai-ki class continued from the Tung-lo era onwards.

Hsuan-te (14261435) potters were not less successful

doubtless the Imperial factory remained in the same

hands during both the Yung-lo and the Hsuan-te

reigns and the great porcelain period of Cheng-hwa

(14651488) contributed many fine specimens. It

was owing, in all probability, to the copiousness of

production during the last named era that the author

of the Tao-lu fell into his misconception as to the

ware's history. There are no recognised features by

which, in the absence of year-marks, the connoisseur

can determine the period of any specimen of To-tai-ki

manufactured between 1493 anc^ IO2 - Nor indeed

is it of the least importance that such distinctions

should be drawn, since all the surviving specimens of

To-tai-ki dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth cen-

turies are of first-rate quality. Towards the close of

the Wan-li era (15741620) the manufacture came to

an end. In a book called the Tao-shuo there is quoted
y

a portion of the " Memoirs from the Pavilion for

Sunning Books," which were written at the end of

the Ming dynasty (about 1640). It says that, on the
occasion of the new moon and full moon fairs at one

of the great Buddhist temples in Peking, the rich

men used to throng to look at the old porcelain bowls

exhibited. " Plain white cups of Wan-li porcelain
were several taels of silver each, and those with the

marks of Hsuan-te or Cheng-hwa twice as much and

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