Page 151 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Ju, Kuan, and Ko Wares 71

copied from ancient specimens sent down from the palace ; and

a single specimen in Hsiang's Album, which is given as fen chHng.
In these various descriptions it is possible to recognise a celadon

green ware, green as the waves of spring, while the familiar stone
grey and buff crackled wares, which range from greyish white to
pale grey green and greenish yellow, seem to be indicated in the
expressions mi se, fen cliing, tan pai, and hui se. The modern
versions of the latter class, which are fairly common, are usually

known even to-day as Ko yao, the expression in potter's language

being practically synonymous with " crackled wares." ^ Other
ancient factories where similar wares were made are Hsiang-hu
and Chi Chou.^

As for the finer Ko wares, which appear to have been indis-
tinguishable from the Kuan, we may look for them in the group

described on p. 65, and in such beautiful pieces as that illustrated
on Plate 19, a vase of fine oval form with delicate grey glaze of
faint bluish tone boldly crackled. The solid quality of the glaze of
this last specimen and the texture of the surface, which is smooth
but lustrous, suggest some natural substance such as the shell of an
egg or a smooth polished stone rather than an artificial material.
The colour perhaps more truly answers the description " egg white "
[luan pai) than any other Sung glaze which I have seen. Plate 20

illustrates another choice example but mth a yellower tone of glaze
;

and a large square vase in the Freer Collection ^ with thick, misty

have been reputed to be of enormous age ; there are several examples in the British

Museum. The Hirth collection in the Gotha Museum includes four high-footed

bowls of brownish yellow colour which seem to belong to this class.
^ As explained in the T'ao lu (bk. li., fol. 10 verso) : " At Ching-te Chen there is

no special factory devoted to the imitation of Ko yao, but the manufacturers of crackled
wares make it in addition to their own special line, and that is why they have the
general name of Ko yao houses (Ko yao hu). Formerly, the manufacturers were
acquainted with the origin of the word, but nowadays those who imitate Ko yao only
copy a fixed model without knowing why it is called Ko yao."

- The Hsiang-hu wares were imitated at Ching-te ChSn in the Imperial factorj'
about 1730. T'ang Ying himself gives the following note on them in the T'ao Ch'ing
shih yu kao, written about this time : " Twenty li south-west of Ching-te Chen is a

waste place called Hsiang-hu ft^^, where there were formerly the foundations of
Sung kilns. It used to be easy to find porcelain (tz'H) fragments of old vessels and
waste pieces. The material was very thin, and the ware was evidently millet-coloured
{mi sS) and pale green (fin ch'ing)." The memoir of Chiang (1322) states that " the
ware was beautiful and lustrous, but not greatly prized at that time." See T'ao la,

bk. viii., fol. 12, and bk. v., fol. 2. For Chi Chou ware, see p. 98.

' See Chinese, Corean, and Japanese Potteries, New York, Japan Society, 1914

No. 307.