Page 319 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

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Yi-hsing Ware 177

a phoenix, and innumerable other quaint shapes, always skilfully

modelled and often of high artistic merit.

The ware, as already stated, is chiefly red, dark and light,

chocolate brown, buff, and drab, and it is usually without glaze.

The decoration consists of: (1) Engraved designs, cut in the ware

while it was still soft. These are usually inscriptions of a poetic

nature, great importance being attached to the calligraphy. In-

deed, we are told that " some of the potters of Yi-hsing owed their

reputation chiefly to their skill in carving inscriptions. Such a

man was Chan-chien, whose style of writing has been much imitated

by modern artists. Another was Ta-hsin, who was employed by.

Shih Ta-pin to write inscriptions, and who was such a master of

penmanship that his inscriptions have been carefully transcribed

and are used by connoisseurs as a standard of excellence." (2)

Low reliefs, either formed in the teapot mould or separately stamped

out and stuck on. Occasionally gilding is found on these, but it

is probably a European addition. (3) Stamped diapers of key
fret, and other familiar patterns, usually forming the background

for relief ornament or borders. (4) Openwork designs applied in

panels over an inner lining which was usually washed with a light-

tinted clay. The pierced work is commonly of floral design, often

the prunus, bamboo and pine pattern, and on dishes and saucers

it has no backing but is left a jour. All these methods of orna-

ment are found on the examples which reached Europe at the end

of the seventeenth century, and they supplied designs for the

AEuropean potters of that period. (5) later type of ornament

consists of opaque coloured enamels in painted designs or as

ground-colours completely hiding the surface of the ware. The

colours are always of the famille rose variety, including opaque

pink,^ and I do not know of any example which suggests an

earlier date than Ch'ien Lung (1736-1795). Most, indeed, appear

to be nineteenth century.

In addition to these, certain less familiar styles of ornament

are found on the smaller objects, such as the heads of opium pipes,

which are beautifully made and tastefully decorated. The red

ware is sometimes coated with a transparent glaze of yellowish

tint, giving a surface of warm reddish brown, exactly similar to

^ I have seen specimens of Yi-hsing red ware coated with a dappled bird's egg glaze

of blue green ground flecked with crimson, a type which was thought to represent the

" Chiin glaze of the muffle kiln." See vol. ii., p. 217.

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