Page 397 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

MONOCHROMATIC WARES

BLACK.

From early times black glazes occupied the best

attention of the Chinese potter. They are found on

both the Ting-yao and the Chien-yao of the Sung

dynasty. The Mo-Ting-yaoy or black Ting, is little
known to Western connoisseurs. The one specimen

illustrated in H'siang's Catalogue goes to show that
the ware was rather brown than black, not showing

any of the depth or brilliancy usually supposed to be

characteristic of a fine black monochrome. In this

respect the Chien-yao of which, with its inferior

variety, the U-ni-yao, mention has been made already

possessed greater attractions. Its deep, lustrous

black, showing tints of raven's-wing green and marked

iridescence, its silvery lines and delicate dappling,

render it one of the most interesting productions of

the Chinese keramist. The manufacture of the

original Chien-yao came to an end in the Tuan
dynasty, and when the factory renewed its activity
under the Ming emperors, its outcome assumed a

wholly different character. No attempt to reproduce

either this ware or the black Ting seems to have been

made, nor is there any record that black glazes were

in vogue during the Ming dynasty. On the whole,

therefore, it seems justifiable to conclude that from

the thirteenth to the sixteenth century monochromes
of this class did not receive marked attention. Their

manufacture was resumed, however, in the Kang-hst

era when two principal varieties were produced.

The first was "metallic black," called U-chin ; the

second " mirror black," called U-ching. The former

of these names is not accurately descriptive. For in
the " metallic black " two tolerably distinct kinds are