Page 128 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

56 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

though its archaeological interest is considerable, and, like almost

all Chinese wares, it possesses a certain charm, any attempt to

place it on a high artistic plane can only end in a reductio ad

absurdum.

Many other examples of tliis ware have since arrived in Europe,

and they all belong to the same type. Some, however, appear to

be later than the others, having reliefs of white porcelain instead

of the usual pottery. They are always described as " funeral

vases " by the Chinese, and it is exceedingly probable that the

description is correct. The subjects of the reliefs are always of a

hieratic kind, including such figures as the dragon of the East,

the tiger of the West, the tortoise of the North, and the red bird

of the South, the sun disc, and a ring of indistinguishable figures,

perhaps Buddliist deities. There is no reason why such a type
of sepulchral vase may not have been in use for many centuries,

and if the porcelain reliefs in one specimen suggest a date no earlier

than the Ming dynasty, the glaze in another has strong analogies

to some of the rougher T'ang wares. The majority of these vases

are of coarse, rough make ; others are superior in finish and

Aof comparatively attractive form. good example, belonging

to Mr. R. H. Benson, is shown on Plate 14. It is of dense grey

stoneware, with opaque greenish grey glaze, with a balustrade

supported by four figures on the shoulder, and a dragon and a

figure on a tiger (perhaps representing the mythical Feng Kan),

besides some small figures with indistinct attributes on the neck.

The height is 20 inches.

It is, of course, possible that some of these represent the coarser

makes of the T'ang, Teng, and Yao districts (see p. 55), and that

the attribution of the Bushell vase by Liu Yen-t'ing may refer to
a lower quality of Ju yao which included these wares, or may

be even the wares made at Ju Chou before or after its period of

Imperial patronage.^

My own conception of the Ju yao is most nearly realised by

the lovely but sadly damaged bowl in the Alexander Collection

lately in the Loan Court at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Its

peculiar form is difficult to reproduce by photographic means, but

^ It would seem as if the manufacture had never entu^ely ceased at Ju Chou, for we
read in Richard's Geography, p. 61, " The environs (of Ju Chou) were formerly very
industrial, but have lost their activity. The manufacture of common pottery is still

carried on and gives it some importance."