Page 443 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINESE POTTERY

shaping his vessels, not caring for mathematical regularity.

His skill in compounding various clays, his wonderfully

ingenious shapes, and the hardness of his ware, resembling

stone or metal, made him famous from the first. People
Hechristened him Chan To-shu of Ti-hsing.
died early.

All the above flourished during the latter years of the

Ming dynasty; that is to say, from the Pf^an-li era (1573

1620) down to 1644. Other celebrities of the same age were

Shao-kai, Chen Heu-chi Shao Erh-sun, and Chan Tsiin-hiang,
y

the last a pupil of Shi Ta-pin.

During the two last periods of the Ming dynasty, i.e. y the

Tien-chi era (1624-1627) and the Ch'ung-chang era (1628-

1644), the following potters attained celebrity, viz. : Chen

Li-shan, Chan Ho-chi, Chan Tiang-shang, Chang Tun-tsung,

and Chan Chiun-shang.

Some of the potters of Ti-hsing owed their reputation
chiefly to their skill in carving inscriptions. Such a man
was Chan-chen, whose style of writing has been much imi-

tated by modern artists. Another was Ta-sin, who was em-

ployed by Shi Ta-pin to write inscriptions, and who was such

a master of penmanship that his inscriptions have been care-

fully transcribed, and are used by connoisseurs as a standard

of excellence. Li Chung-fang^ who has been mentioned

above as a renowned pupil of Shi Ta-pin, was not far inferior

to this Ta-sin in caligraphic ability.

Hiang Pu-sun, another potter of about the same period,
Hewas a poet as well as a keramist.
was so proud of his

talents that people called him insane, but he scarcely de-
Heserved such an epithet.
was incarcerated and died in

prison.

During the Ch'ung-chang era (1628-1644), a potter called
HeCh'an Tsz-ch'o flourished.
was a man of great skill both

as a modeller and as a caligraphist. In fact he deserves to

be classed among the celebrities of the Ming dynasty.

A still more renowned potter of this dynasty was Chan

HeMing-yueny surnamed Hao-fangy and called also Hti-yin.

flourished during the Wan-li era (15731620), and enjoyed
Aa reputation of the highest character.
well-known writer

says that his fame as a potter was widespread, and that wher-

ever he went, nobles and literati invited him to their houses.

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