Page 166 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

82 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

or blue grey tone. In conjecturing the origin of these we must

take into consideration the private factories which existed under
the Northern Sung at Ch'en-Ku^ and other locaUties in the neigh-

bourhood of the eastern capital {tung ching), now named K'ai-
feng Fu, in Honan. The Ko ku yao Inn^ describes the ware of
these parts under the heading Tung yao ^ : " It is pale green {ch'ing)
in colour, with fine crackle, and in many cases has a brown mouth
and iron foot. Compared with Kuan ware it lacks the red tinge,

and its material is coarse, wanting in fineness and lustre, and far

from equalling that of the Kuan ware. At the present day (i.e.

1387) it is rarely seen." Other writers repeat this passage with
little alteration, though the author of the T'ao lu adds that the
clay was of black colour and the glaze of varying depth. Hsiang's

Album includes one specimen of the tung ch'ing tz'u, describing

the colour as t'ieh ts'ui, which probably means the blue green shade
of distant hills.'* Tung ch'ing glaze is included in the list of those
imitated in the Imperial factories about 1730, two kinds, pale and
deep, being specified ; and the T'ao lu ^ informs us that the Tung
ch'ing was copied to a considerable extent at Ching-te Chen in
the early nineteenth century, and that the modern glaze was
exactly like the old. That this modern glaze was only a variety
of celadon is shown by the recipe given in the same work,*' viz.
" to add to the ordinary glaze some of the mixture containing
ferruginous earth," which differs from that given for the modern

Lung-ch'iian glaze only in the absence of the pinch of cobalt (see

vol ii., p. 189).

A verse from a poem by Chang-lei (1046-1106) indicates the

green colour of the ware : " Green jade {pi yii) when carved

^^S- TaoSee lu, vol. vi., fol. 3.

2 Bk. Yii., fol. 22.

^S^- -^ phrase wtiich tlie author of the T'ao lu considers to be a mistake for
^tlie liomophone ;^ (tung yao or Eastern ware). He also quotes another misnomer
^"^^for the ware, viz.
tung ch'ing ch'i (winter green ware). This Tung ware

is constantly alluded to in other works as tung ch'ing ;^^.

*§^ lit. duplicated kingfisher green. Bushell, in his translation, renders it

literally " kingfisher feathers in layers," a metaphor from the well-known jewellery

with inlay of kingfisher feathers, which would suggest a turquoise tint. On the other

^hand, we find in Giles's Dictionary the phrase jaUlg YiXan shan t'ieh ts'ui, " the

distant hills rise in many green ranges " (the two forms of t'ieh being alternatives),

a phrase recalling the " green of a thousand hills," which is used in reference to early

green wares. See p. 16.

' Bk. ii., fol. 9.

« Bk. iii., fol. 12.