Page 344 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

Chapter X

MONOCHROMATIC WARES (Continued)

RED

celadon and soft-paste white porce-

lain, the choicest of all monochromes are

AFTERred. In European and American estima-
tion, indeed, this order is reversed red
;

glazes are placed in the very highest rank, and it is

not to be denied that there are excellent grounds for

the verdict, since among the choice reds of China are

to be found the grandest and most decorative colours

ever produced in the pottery furnace. Many Chinese

collectors also hold reds in superlative esteem, and

grudge no price to acquire a fine specimen.

There is much uncertainty with regard to the time
when red glazes were first produced. The Tao-tu,

quoting from a memoir called the Chiang-kiy says :
" Porcelain vases of Ching-te-chen were named Jo-yu,

that is to say, ' of Jo-chou.' They could hold

Jade

their own against the true Ting vases in red porcelain."

To this quotation the author of the Tao-lu adds the
" It is thus seen that among Ting porce-
remark :

lains some were red. Brown and black Tings were

also made, but the red Ting (Hung-ting] and the white

were alone esteemed at the time (Sung dynasty)."

The author, it will be observed, had no other evidence

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