Page 165 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

L^

Lung-ch'iian yao 8i

parts, but that the ware was not so good as the old. Local tradi-
tion asserts that the celadon industry in the district came to an
end with the Ming dynasty.

Connoisseurs are much exercised over the differences between

Sung and Ming celadons. The T^ao lu tells us nothing beyond
the bare statement that the Ming ware was not so good, and the

—two general rules which have been laid down ^ for our guidance viz.

(1) that the colour of the Sung wares is deeper and more grass
green, that of the Ming more grey green, and (2) that the bottoms
of the Ming vessels are distinguished by an unglazed ring of reddish

—brown colour can only be accepted with reserve. Of the two

the colour test is probably the more reliable, but I have found

too many exceptions in which the grey green occurs on pieces of

obviously Sung origin to feel any great confidence in its guidance.
The ring test breaks down in practice, and is illogical in its con-

ception, implying, as it does, that the use of a circular support in

the kiln was limited to one particular place and period. On the
contrary, we know that this method of support was usual in the

Siamese factories at Sawankalok,^ and apparently before the Ming
period, and as the Siamese potteries were started by Chinese,
probably sent from Western China, it is only fair to suppose that
this method of manufacture was in general use at an early date.
The safest criterion of Sung workmanship is the style of the ware,
and especially the boldness and freedom of the carved designs.
In the Ming period the Sung patterns already exhibit an inevitable
staleness and conventionality with a tendency to overcrowding
of detail. In some cases, too, the designs are of a later order,
and closely analogous to those of the blue and white Ming porce-

lains.

In addition to the Lung-ch'iian and Ch'u-chou celadons, which
are readily recognised by their peculiar glaze and their reddish

brown foot rims, there are many other kinds which are not easy
to classify. Some of these have a dry, buff stoneware body and

brownish green glaze, while others have a glaze of decided grey

1 See Hirth, Ancient Chinese Porcelain, p. 31.

2 See Busliell, Oriental Ceramic Art, p. 150.

^A large number of fragments and wasters, besides a few complete specimens^

found on the site of these potteries, about 200 ^miles north of Bangkok, are now
in the British Museum. The prevailing type of ware has grey porcellanous body
and a tliin transparent glaze of watery green celadon colour, often distinctly tinged

with blue.

—I