Page 101 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

The T'ang Dynasty, 618-906 a.d. 37

Onjoji monastery,! are all conceived in the same grand style, and

bespeak a kindred art.

But high as this figure ranks as sculpture, it is far more re-
markable as pottery. To fire such a mass of material without sub-
sidence or cracking would tax the capabilities of the best equipped
modern pottery, while the skill displayed in the modelling is prob-
ably unequalled in any known example of ceramic sculpture.
The contemporary grave figures hold a high place in ceramic model-
ling, but this statue is as far above the best of them as Dwight's
stoneware bust of Prince Rupert towers above the Staffordshire
figurines. Dwight's masterpiece has long been an object of wonder
and admiration in the ceramic ante-room in the British Museum,
and, with the help of the National Art Collections Fund and of

several munificent individuals, the British Museum has been able
to acquire this wonderful Chinese figure, which is now exhibited
in the King Edward VII. galleries.

It is too early yet to attempt seriously the classification of the
T'ang wares under their respective factories. Before this is possible
the meagre allusions in Chinese literature must be supplemented

by far fuller information. At present our knowledge of the T'ang
factories is chiefly drawn from casual references in Chinese poetry

and in the Chinese Classic on Tea, the Clia Ching, written by Lu Yii
in the middle of the eighth century. From this we gather that
the Yiieh Chou^ kilns enjoyed a high reputation. An early allusion
to this factory in reference to the " bowls of Eastern Ou " in the

Chin dynasty has already been recorded.^ The author of the Tea
Classic tells us that among tea- drinkers the Yiieh bowls were con-
sidered the best, though there were some who ranked those of

Hsing Chou^ above them. Lu Yii, however, thought the judg-

ment of the latter connoisseurs was wrong, because the Hsing
Chou bowls resembled silver while the Yiieh bowls were like jade,
because the Hsing bowls were like snow, the Yiieh like ice, and be-
cause the Hsing ware, being white, made the tea appear red, while

the Yiieh ware, being green (ch'ing), imparted a green {lil) tint

to the tea. The T'ang poet, Lu Kuei-meng, further tells us that

the Yiieh bowls " despoiled the thousand peaks of their blue green^

^ See Japanese Temples and their Treasures, by Shiba-junrokuro, with translations

by Mr. Langdon Warner, Tokyo, Shimbi Shoin, 1910, vol. ii., nos. 238, 268, and 300.

2 ^')^. 3 See p. 17. * M'}\], sometimes written \j\p}^.

^^"©i ts'iii se. Ts'ui is the colour of " a bird with blue-green feathers: a king-