Page 410 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

to produce? He may have sought to exercise a gen-

eral control over these forces, but he knew that the

less he limited .their influence, the wider was the

range of his creative resources. This conception, to
which doubtless is due the exquisite Tao-pien ware,
with its graded tones, its colours blending with and
merging into one another, its richness, depth, bril-
liancy, softness, and glow, remained utilised, perhaps
unappreciated by Western potters, until in recent

years some of its effects were happily reproduced in

the beautiful wares of Linthorpe and Haviland. The

collector of Chinese porcelain and pottery owes to the
Tao-pien the pleasure of knowing that his field is

never exhausted. He may always hope to find novel-

ties as charming as any of his most treasured familiars.

POLYCHROMATIC GLAZES OF THE RED FAMILY.

There are a number of polychromatic glazes which

belong to the Tao-pien species inasmuch as no two

of them are exactly alike, but which fall naturally

into one class owing to the predominance of red in

their colours. Of these the commonest though not

the least beautiful, has two colours only, clair-de-lune

and red. Generally the clair-de-lune appears as a

ground colour, the red cropping out in rich fields

and flashes but sometimes this order is reversed, and
;

sometimes again the clair-de-lune occupies a very

secondary place, barely over-lapping the upper rim

of a vase and thence running downwards in thin

streaks. The ware is evidently a modification of the

Tuan-tsu, described in a previous chapter, where

clouds of carmine appear among a clair-de-lune envi-

ronment. Some pieces, indeed, are plainly an imita-

tion of the latter, and since the keramic skill of the

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