Page 285 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

U

Ching-t^ Chen 153

the Annals of Fou-liang the manufacture of pottery^ was tradi-

tionally held to have begun in the district of Hsin-p'ing in the

Han dynasty. In the same passage the development of the local

industry is traced by means of a few significant incidents. In

the first year of Chih Te in the Ch'en dynasty (583 a.d.) the potters
of the district were called upon to provide plinths for the Imperial

buildings at Chien-k'ang (afterwards Nanking), but the plinths,

when finished, though cleverly made, were not strong enough to

carry the weight of the columns. In the fourth (or, according to

Wuanother reading, the second) year of Te of the T'ang dynasty

(621 A.D.), " porcelain jade " ^ was offered as tribute to the Emperor

under the name of false jade vessels {chia yii ch'i), and from this

time forward the duty (of supplying the Emperor) became an

institution, 3 and a potter named Ho Chung-ch'u gained a great

reputation. In the Ching Te period of the Sung dynasty, as

already stated, officially manufactured porcelain was sent to the

capital, where it supplied the needs of the palaces and great

establishments. In the T'ai Ting period of the Yiian dynasty

(1324-1327) the porcelain factory came under the inspection of
the Intendant of the Circuit, who supplied the required wares

when orders had been received, and closed the factory if there

were no orders (from the Court).

Continuing into the Ming dynasty, the same authority gives

details of the various administrative changes which may perhaps be

" taken as read," one or two important facts only calling for men-

tion. Thus in the thirty-fifth year* of Hung Wu, we are told that

the factories were opened, and that supplies of porcelain were sent
to the Court. There seems to have been some difference of opinion

about the building of the Imperial Ware Factory {Yii ch'i ch'ang),

1 See p. 141.
2 |5Q3^ fao yii. There are variant readings to this passage as given in the Chiang

hsi fung chih (bk. xciii., fol. 5 verso), which make fao yu the name of a man, the
passage being read " T'ao-yu forwarded as tribute false jade vessels." As pointed

out elsewhere, this expression " false jade " seems to imply a porcellanous ware.
The comparison of porcelain and even fine pottery to jade is a commonplace in China,

and it is not necessary to infer that any particular colour, green or otherwise, is indi-

cated.

g^3 The text is simply =chih wu "established duty."

* In order to bring this date into Hung Wu's lifetime, it is necessary to reckon

from the year 1364, when he was proclaimed Prince of Wu. But other records (see
Wu—Tao lu, bk. v., fol. 4 recto) give the date as second year of Hung
i.e. 1369, instead

Wuof 1398 as above. Hung was proclaimed Emperor in 1368, and died in 1398.

—I