Page 461 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINESE PORCELAIN IN WEST

inferiority in modern porcelains of this class. The

glaze lacks lustre, being vitreous rather than velvety,

and the surface is disfigured by blistering or pitting

more or less prominent. Of course the connoisseur

turns at once to the pate, but for that the crafty

Chinaman makes full preparation by grinding and

polishing the lower rim of the specimen until the

exposed pate acquires artificially much of the natural

smoothness and closeness of grain that constitute dis-

tinctive marks of good old ware. In this process,

however, he betrays himself, for even though the

colouring matter that he employs to impart a spuri-

ous appearance of age to the freshly ground rim be

not apparent to uninstructed eyes, the marks of the

grinding may always be found by close examination

in the glaze on the bottom or even on the body near

the rim. The amateur may therefore fortify his

faltering convictions by looking carefully for such

marks, and though his sight be keen, he will do well

btoluues-eanad-mwahgintiefy"inHgawgltahsso.rnsAl"rehaadvye many brand new

passed into the

possession of foreign residents in China, and many

others have doubtless crossed the water to America.

Every one of these imitations is a factor of false edu-
cation, tending to create a vitiated standard of quality
and a deceptive scale of value. Besides, it is in the
nature of such things that their owners remain vic-

tims of delusion. Friends are not frank enough,

even supposing them sufficiently skilled, to ungild a

man's treasures to his face, and collectors are so

infatuated that they gladly accept as genuine praise

the perfunctory approval of conventionalism. Thus

the Chinese find their account in carrying on the

fraud, and one may expect to see " blue-and-white,"

379