Page 292 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

i6o Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

was felt chiefly at the Imperial potteries, while the private factories
were comparatively flourishing and even supplied some of the wares
required by the Court.

We learn from the Memoirs of Chiang that a variety of porcelains

were made to meet the tastes of the different regions of Southern
China. The market in Northern China does not seem as yet to

have been studied. Thus, while the kilns at Hu-t'ien,'- on the
river bank opposite to Ching-te Chen, supplied a brownish yellow ^
ware which was popular in the province of Chekiang, the greenish
white ^ porcelain of Ching-te Chen found a profitable market in

Hunan and Hupeh, Szechuan, and Kuangtung. The inhabitants

of Kiangsu and Anhui seem to have been less critical, for the inferior

wares known as "yellow stuff" {huang liao), which did not sell in
Kiangsi, Kiangnan, Kuangtung, Fukien, and Chekiang, was foisted

on them.

The finest porcelain was made of the stone (shih) from Chin-

keng, while stone and earth from other neighbouring sites were
used for mixing in the inferior wares and for making seggars* and

moulds. The glaze was made of " glaze earth " from Ling-pei

mixed with the ashes of brushwood from the Yu-shan hills which
had been burnt with lime and persimmon wood. I mention these

technical details because their similarity with the description of

the manufacture in the eighteenth century show that the method
of porcelain making at both periods was essentially the same. The
decoration was effected by stamping or pressing in moulds, by
painting or by carving ^ ; and the ware was fired either upright

or inverted.

Some idea of the forms and ornament of these wares may be

gathered from another passage which would be far more illumin-
ating if the fanciful names used were less difficult to understand.
Bushell has boldly translated them according to his ideas, and I
quote his renderings in inverted commas and in the pious hope

that they may be correct, giving at the same time the original

characters.

There were bowls {wan), with high feet and with fish and water

1 See p. 163.

* huang hei, lit. yellow black or, perhaps, yellow and black.

' Ch'ing pai, a term also applied to greenish white jade ; probably a pale celadon

tint.

*i.e. cases in v.hich the porcelain was fired.

y" g ^^ EP tt
hua, It ''"a ^"o. and §| tiao hua.