Page 323 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

MONOCHROMATIC GLAZES

limits of strict accuracy permitted. It will be well,

therefore, for the collector to confine the appella-
tion to specimens having soft pate, thin biscuit, rich

but not brilliant glaze of creamy white or slightly

buff tinge, and ornamentation incised or in relief.

He may further take it for granted that though small

examples round plates or pyramidal bowls of

early Ting-yao may be found at rare intervals, large
Whenpieces are practically non-existent.
there is

question of the latter, they may be unhesitatingly re-

ferred either to the later Ching-te-chen potters, or to

the factories of Kiang-nan, Kiang-si, or Kwan-tung.

The Kwan-tung pieces, now extant, are all compara-

tively heavy and coarse Chinese virtuosi place them
;

in the Tu-ting (Ting pottery) rank. The character-

istic type is a large vase or ewer, decorated with a

scroll of lotus or peony in high relief, and having
paint-like creamy glaze of varying lustre and uneven

thickness, its buff colour often showing tinges of blue.

Crackle, though not an essential feature, exists in the

great majority of cases and is usually large and irreg-

ular. The biscuit is close, grey stone-ware, too thick

and heavy to be properly classed with pate tendre, but

not infrequently approaching that type, especially in

well manipulated examples. Among the early speci-

mens of K<wang-yao there were doubtless many that

deserve to be spoken of in higher terms. But if they

survive they are no longer taken account of by con-

noisseurs. On the other hand, the old soft-paste

porcelains of Kiang-nan stand on a high plane of

technical skill. The variety spoken of above that

known in Japan as Nyo-ju with its oily, lustrous

glaze, thin pate, fine crackle, designs in bas-relief, and

warm greyish buff colour, is very charming. Another

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