Page 429 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINESE POTTERY

There is also a beautiful surface of blue or green

marbled with white or speckled with red. The

Kwang-tung potters seem to have experienced diffi-
culty in the management of their baking processes,
for their glazes often show blisters or lacks of contin-

uity. The history of the factory is not accurately

known, and as year-marks do not seem to have been

employed at any time, there is little to guide in

determining the age of a specimen. The only marks

that occur are Koh Min-tsiang-chi, or more rarely

Koh Tuan-tsiang-chiy signifying " made by Koh Min-
tsiang or Koh Yuan-tsiang." These marks are

stamped in the red or reddish brown paste on the

unglazed bottom of a piece. The frequency of their
occurrence shows that Koh Min-tsiang and Koh

Yuan-tsiang must have played an important part in
the manufacture of this species of Kwang-yao, but
repeated investigations have failed to elicit any infor-
mation about either of the men. In Japan, where

under the name of Namako (beche-de-mer, owing to

the resemblance the variegated glaze bears to the

appearance of the sea-snail), many excellent speci-
mens have been preserved by collectors. The two
Koh are said to have flourished at the close of the

Ming dynasty, and the appearance of pieces thus
marked tallies with this theory as to their age. It is

at all events pretty certain that no example of flambe
Kwang-yao dates from an earlier period than the
sixteenth century, and that the great majority of those
coming into the market are from kilns of the Kang-

hsi or Chlen-lung era.

Neither in China nor in the West has this variety

of ware been much valued at any time, though its

rich lustrous surface and play of fine colours ought to

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