Page 415 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

POLYCHROMATIC GLAZES

best periods of the present dynasty has been lavished

upon them, they deservedly rank among choice pro-
ductions of Ching-te-chen. Many fine specimens
of polychromes in which red predominates have pate
which is rather stone-ware than porcelain, and in
some the biscuit, where exposed to the fire, shows a
reddish brown colour. In fact high quality of pate

is not an essential criterion of excellence in such

ware.

In another variety of this same genus the coloured

glazes are run so regularly as to present a tesselated

appearance. In such polychromes there is usually an

addition of a third colour, a rich brown, which is

often so skilfully managed that it seems to form a

border of varying tone to the fields of red and clair-

de-lune. The processes of these remarkable tours de

force are still matter of conjecture. There was, in

truth, scarcely any limit to the ability developed by

the Chinese potter in manipulating his glazing mate-
Arial.
favourite device of his in the manufacture

of red and white polychromes was to contrive that
the flow of the red glaze should suffer the underlying
white to crop out in more or less regular patterns, as
for example a lotus blossom or a bunch of leaves.
This particular class of conceit seems to have be-

longed to a comparatively late period, as it appears
chiefly in wares dating from the closing years of the
Chien-lung and to the Chia-tsing and Taou-Kivang

eras. For the rest, the Tung-ching era (17231736)

appears to have been the most successful time for
polychromes of the red genus and indeed for all

polychromatic glazes. Many grand specimens bear

the year-mark of that era, impressed in seal character.

VOL. ix. 22 337