Page 462 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

after its kind, become daily a commoner article of

furniture. Even the genuine connoisseur is startled

by these new specimens. Too essentially selfish

every enthusiastic collector is incapable of altruism

to be glad that the general public is gaining access

to a species, however spurious, of the porcelains he

loves, he trembles before the terrible contingency

that all the ancient skill may be recovered one of

these days, and that his much valued gems may be

vulgarised by a crowd of cheap and universally

accessible rivals. Probably the fear is chimerical,

yet to say so with absolute confidence is difficult,

seeing that even the celebrated "soft-paste" porce-

lain also is represented in modern imitations. It is

a singular fact that until quite recently this beautiful

variety of ware was almost completely neglected by

foreign collectors. Of late years, however, there has

been an awakening, especially on the part of Ameri-

can connoisseurs, and the resulting demand has not

only drawn a number of fine specimens from Chinese

private collections, but has also induced modern pot-
ters to apply all their care and skill to the work of

reproduction. They have not succeeded quite so

well as in the case of the ordinary hard-paste, for in

the modern Kai-pien-yao it will be found almost in-

variably that the crackle has an accidental appearance,

that the pate is rough, that the decoration is weak

and scratchy, and that the glaze is discoloured rather

than mellow. Still the imitations are quite good

enough to deceive ordinary eyes, and it is certain

that a number of new specimens have gone to

America, doubtless to find ready purchasers. As for

other varieties of porcelain, the process of reproduc"-
tion is equally so-called " apple green
active. The

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