Page 135 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

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Ju, Kuan, and Ko Wares 6i

the ' pale white ' {tan pai i) are second, while those with ash-coloured

[liui se) glaze are very inferior." From the same writer we gather
that artificial staining of the crackle was employed on both Kuan

and Ko wares, for he speaks of " ice-crackle with lines red as eel's

blood" and "plum-blossom^ crackle with ink-coloured lines,"

besides an inferior type of crackle with fine lines which did not

suggest any particular pattern.

The Hang Chou Kuan ware, variously described as Kuan yao,

Hsiu net ssu yao, Nei yao, and Shao yao from the locality of the factory

and the name of its manager, is described in both the Cho keng hi
and the Ko kit yao lun. In the former it was said to be a chHng

ware, " finely levigated clay^ is the rule, and it is of very exquisite

make the coloured glaze is translucent ^ ; it is the delight of the
;

age." ^ The latter,^ which makes no mention of an earlier Kuan

ware, gives the following description of the Nei yao: " The material

is fine and unctuous, the colour ch'ing with a flush of pale red

{tai fen hung) and of varying intensity. Specimens with crab's-

claw crackle, brown mouth, and iron foot, and of good colour rank

with Ju yao. There are, besides, specimens with a black body

which are called wu ni yao. All the imitations which are made

at Lung-ch'iian are without crackle."

Further information is given in the Po wu yao Ian, viz. that the
clay used at the factory below the Phoenix Hill at Hang Chou for

making Kuan yao was of reddish brown {tzu) colour, and that this
explains the phenomenon of the " brown mouth and iron foot " '

for " the brown mouth is due to the fact that the vessel's mouth

^^ fi a phrase which is not verj' lucid. In fact, I suspect a confusion with

another ian H, which means " egg," and would give the sense " egg white," like the
luan pai of the Ju yao.

2 On the subject of crackle, see vol. ii., p. 197. The idea of a crackle assuming the form
of round four- or flve-petalled flowers like plum blossoms was carried out by the Ch'ien
Lung potters on some of the medallion bowls (see vol. ii., p. 244), with a ground of bluish
green enamel on which a network of lines and plum blossoms was traced in black.

* 'M.M Ch'eng ni, lit. " pure, limpid, or clear clay," an expression which is ex-
plained in the T'ao shuo (bk. i., fol. 4 verso) as " refined earth," the word ch'eng (or

teng) being equivalent to j'^ I'ao, which means to wash.

*^M /""^ <^'''^> lit. " brilliant penetrate, or brilliant right through."

5 The age is here probably the Sung period, for we must bear in mind that the
author of the Cho keng lu is practically quoting verbatim from the Sung writer Yeh-

chih.

Ko* ku yao lun, bk. vii., fol. 22.
'' It may also explain the ruddy tinge of the green glaze, which, being transparent,

would allow the reddish brown body colour to show through in the thinner parts.