Page 182 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

96 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

been confounded with Chou's work they were inferior both in
material and workmanship to his early masterpieces.

At any rate, it is certain that besides these conspicuous crafts-

men whose names have become historical, there were many name-
less potters at Ching-te Chen who devoted their skill to the imita-

tion of pai ting porcelain in the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties. Very
beautiful wares of this class are occasionally seen which have a
" slickness " of decoration and a mechanical refinement of finish
characteristic of an art which is already crystallised and has lost
its freshness and spontaneity. These are, no doubt, the work of
later copyists. Indeed, we are expressly told in the T'ao lu^ that
at the end of the eighteenth century there were still potters at

Ching-te Chen who made a specialty of pai ting ch'i or white Ting

wares. These, moreover, were makers of curiosities and orna-
mental wares (wan), and they sometimes painted their wares with

underglaze blue.

Among the provincial wares of the Ting type the Ko ku yao lun
mentions Hsiang yao, which " has crab's claw crackle. When

rich and lustrous it is highly esteemed, but when yellow and of
coarser material, it is of little merit or value." Another work-

gives this ware a flattering mention in stating that the Ting ware
resembled Hsiang yao in colour. The locality of its manufacture
is left in doubt, but it was probably Hsiang-shan, in the Ning-po

prefecture of Chekiang. The T'ao lu names a good number of pro-
ducers of white ware, some definitely described as of Ting type,
among the lesser factories. Su Chou,^ for instance, in Anhui, in
the modern prefecture of Feng-yang, had a pottery dating from the
Sung period. Its productions resembled Ting ware in colour, and
had a considerable reputation. In fact, when the Ting porcelain
became scarce the Su Chou ware was largely bought in Northern
China as a substitute, though in reality it was far from equal to

the genuine Ting.

Ssu Chou,^ too, another place in Anhui, had a pottery dating

from Sung times, which made wares of Ting type, and " persons
who liked a bargain often bought them in place of Ting porcelain."

^ Bk. ii., fol. 9 verso.
* The Liu ch'ing jih cha, written by T'ien Yi-hSng in the Ming dynasty.

^'M^ T'ao lu, vol. vii., fol. 9 verso. See also bk. ix., fol. 9, where the Ch'ing

po tsa chih (1193 a.d.) is quoted as follows : " The wares used at the present day,
which are made at So Chou and Ssu Chou, are not genuine Ting ware."

* fHlMI T'ao lu, vol. vii., fol. 9 verso.