Page 196 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

gS Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

Sung, was made of a dark-coloured clay which gave a dusky tinge

Ato the white glaze. small melon-shaped vase, reputed to have

come from a tomb in Shansi, is shown in Plate 11. It has a hard,

buff grey body, with a dressing of white slip and white glaze, the

effect of the combination being a pleasing surface of solid-looking

Aivory white. factory which made white wares in the neigh-

bouring province of Shansi is named in the twelfth century ChHng

po tsa chih.^ It was situated at Huang-p'u Chen, in Yao Chou,

where, as we are told in the T'ao shuo, they had at an early date

made flat-bottom bowls which were called " little seagulls." The

place is near Hsi-an Fu.

Wares of the fu ting, the " earthy " Ting, type, with creamy

glaze, were made at Nan-feng Hsien,^ in the province of Kiangsi,

during the Yiian dynasty ; and at Chi Chou^ in the same pro-
vince there were factories in the Sung dynasty which deserve some

attention. The latter were situated at Yung-ho Chen, in the Chi

Chou district, in the prefecture of Chia-an Fu, and one of the pro-

ductions appears to have resembled the purple {tzu) Ting ware,

though it was coarser and thicker, and of no great merit. The

Ko ku yao lun ^ speaks of five factories in this place producing

white and purple {izU) wares, flower vases of large size and con-

siderable value, and small vases which were ornamented, and

crackled wares of great beauty. The best of these potteries be-

longed to a man named Shu ^. We are further informed by the

Chii chai tsa chi ^ that Shu, the old man {Shu wetig), was skilled in

making ornamental objects, and that his daughter, Shu chiao (the

fair Shu), excelled him. Her incense burners and jars of various

kinds commanded a price almost equal to that of Ko yao. The

author proceeds to describe a dish and a bowl in his own collection

as of " grey ware with invisible blue® glaze, which was capable

of keeping water sweet for a month." It has been assumed
that the decoration of the " small vases " was painted,'^ but

the expression in the text {yu huaY gives no clue to the kind

1 Quoted in the T'ao lu, bk. ix., fol. 9.

* Bk. vi., fol. 23 verso. This account does not appear in the original edition, and
was added in the later edition of 1459.

* Quoted in the T'ao shuo.
* E^l y". which means " black," or " invisible blue or green."
* See Bushell, T'ao shuo, p. 48.

* " Have ornament,"