Page 266 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

138 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

a vase organ, in the preface of whicli it is related ^ that in the
year 1100 a.d., " while they were drinking at a farewell banquet
to Liu Chi-chung, they heard the sounds of an organ and flute,"
and that on investigation " it was discovered that the sounds

came out of a pair of vases, and that they stopped when the
meal was over." Another story of the Sung dynasty tells of a
wonderful basin in which the moisture remaining after it had
been emptied displayed, when frozen, a fresh pattern every day.
At first it was a spray of peach blossom, then a branch of peony
with two flowers, then a winter landscape, " with water and
villages of bamboo houses, wild geese flying, and herons standing
upon one leg."

The story of the " self-warming cups " told by an early Sung
writer '^ evidently belongs to the realm of pure fiction : "In the
treasury of T'ien Pao (742 a.d.) there were green (ch'ing) ware
(tz'u) wine cups with markings like tangled silk. They were thin

as paper. When wine was poured into them it gradually grew

warm. Then it had the appearance of steaming, and next of boil-
ing. Hence the name ' self-warming cups.' "

Scarcely less marvellous is the incident recorded in the Yu

chang ia shih clii, written about 1454.'^ " At the time when the
temple of the god (of pottery) was in existence, an Imperial order
was given to Ching-te Chen to make a wind-screen ; but it was
not successful, and was changed in the kiln into a bed six feet long
and one foot high. At the second attempt it was again changed
and became a boat three feet long. Inside the boat were the various
fittings all complete. The officials of the prefecture and district
all saw it. But it was pounded to pieces with a pestle, for they
did not dare to let it go to court." Another story * tells how Chia
and I (John Doe and Richard Roe) when hunting were led in pur-
suit of a wounded hare into an ancient tomb in the mountains,
where they found a large jar containing two white porcelain vases
and an ink slab. Chia broke one of the vases, but I stopped any

further vandalism and carried the other specimens home. He

used the vase for flowers, but for several days he noticed " an
emanation from within issuing from the Yin yiln (generative power

^ See T'ao shuo, Bushell, op. cit., p. 47.

2 In the Yiln hsien tsa chi, quoted in the Tao lu, bk. ix., fol. 1 verso.

* Quoted in the T'ao hi, bk. viii., fols. 12 and 13.

* From the Erh shih hi, quoted in the T'ao lu, Ijk. ix., fol. 15.