Page 235 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Ghiin Wares and Some Others 119

from the palace collections, which serve at once to show the variety
of Chiin colours and the extent to which they were copied. The

actual colours described are :

(1) Rose purple {7nei kuei izu J5:^^).
(2) Cherry apple red (hai fang hung i^^fX).
(3) Purple of the aubergine flower (chHeh hua tzii ^H^S^)-

(4) Plum bloom {mei tzu ch'ing ^^^).

(5) Donkey's liver and horse's lung {lu kan ma fei Hff.!^ tili)>

with the addition of four kinds obtained from other sources.^
(6) Deep purple {shen tzu W.^).
(7) "Millet colour" {mi se iK^i^).

(8) Sky blue {fien Ian ^^).
(9) Furnace transmutation or flambe {yao pien %^).

The potters of the Yung Cheng period (1723-35) succeeded

wonderfully in their work of imitation, and existing examples bear
witness to the beautiful colour effects which they obtained. The
body of the ware, however, was, as a rule, a fine white porcelain,-
which had to be carefully concealed by the brown glaze on the

base. Many of the Yung Cheng specimens are marked with the
seal mark of the period, and occasional instances occur in which
this mark has been ground off in order to pass the piece as old. I

have such a specimen, which was actually bought in the trade for

Sung. It is a small dish, with beautiful turquoise green glaze in

the centre and a flambe red on the sides. The place where the
mark has been ground away when washed clean showed a fine

white porcelain body. It is stated in the T'ao lu that the potters

at Ching-te Chen began to imitate the Chiin wares towards the

end of the Sung dynasty. No evidence is given to support the
assertion, which may be merely a local tradition ; but one cer-

tainly sees occasional specimens with a porcelain body masked
by a dark brown clay dressing under the base, the glazes of which
obviously imitate the Chiin. There are, for instance, saucers and
bowls of this kind with purple glaze finely shot with grey on the
exterior and a lavender grey inside which appear to be older than

^^^f^ Wai hsin ie. , lit. " recentlj- obtained from outside." 'Wai evidently

contrasts tiere with ne.i (the palace), which precedes the first five. Julien, however,
gives it the sense " emaiix nouvellement invcnles."

- See T'ao lu, bk. vi., fol. 7. " As to the ware made at Ching-te Chen at the pre-

sent day in imitation of the Chun wares, the body material is all of beautiful quality."

Tills carries the imitation up to the end of the eighteenth century. There are, how-

ever, imitations made on a soft pottery body wliich bear the Yung Cheng mark.