Page 463 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINESE PORCELAIN IN WEST

craquele ware is turned out in quite considerable quan-

tities. Here, too, the amateur ought to find suffi-

cient guidance in the comparatively coarse, though

carefully ground and polished, pate of the modern

porcelain, in the weak tone of the colour, and above
all in the "
absence of the "
mossy edge peculiar to

the crackle of the genuine ware. Corresponding
are seen in the so-called " black
ahtatwetmhpotrsnsto" simulate
of the time. The fine close-grained

pate of the old kilns is not producible, and the black

glaze forming the ground colour is so vitreous and

garish that it has to be subjected to an all-over pro-

cess of grinding, the marks of which can be detected
"
without much trouble. " Mustard
crackle offers

another favourite field for imitation, but here the

amateur should never fall a victim if he remembers,

first, that the slightest muddiness of colour is fatal,

and secondly, that a fine velvety lustre invariably

appears on the glaze of Chien-lung and earlier speci-
"
mens. As to the fine reds, sang-de-bceufy peach-
blow," their reproduction is
" bean-blossom " &c.

still more difficult, though it must be confessed that

some recently manufactured specimens of Lang-yao
are declared deceptive by Chinese connoisseurs them-

selves. Further, it must be observed that Japan also

iacsemlbiaindtonitsoh,eus"ffi"aemlldiilqlauseidav-endrrtieamw"intaa"tnodgrl,aozatehnsedrbytvhaMartaiektsuipzeesuc,ibmyaennSdseiooffuf

have been acquired by Chinese dealers and are con-

fidently offered for sale as Chinese porcelains. The

Japanese potters are not necessarily parties to this

fraud, nor does it follow that the Chinese themselves

attempt any witting deception, for in shops in Shang-
hai and even Tien-tsin specimens frankly stamped with