Page 350 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

200 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

part of the Ming dynasty. Unfortunately, nothing is said of the

nature of the wares made at this time for the Court.

Reference is made elsewhere (p. 202) to the potteries at

Wu-ch*ing Hsien, in the Peking district. Possibly these are the

potteries described by BushelH as still active in modern times.
" The ordinary glaze," he remarks, " is a reddish brown of marked

iridescence, shining with an infinity of metallic specks, an effective

background to the moulded decoration which covers the surface.

The designs are generally of hieratic character."
The " sun-stone " glazes made at the Rookwood Potteries (Cin-

cinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.) and on the Lancastrian wares ^ are of this

kind, the infinity of metallic specks being due to " super-satura-

Ation " of the glaze with iron oxide. specimen of this modem

Peking ware may be seen in the British Museum.

The tile works at Liu-li-chiA, near Peking, date back to the

Yiian dynasty, and their modern productions as represented in

the Field Museum include a pottery with incised designs filled in

with yellow, green, and dark aubergine glazes, not unlike in style

to the Japanese Sanuki ware. Another type has forms taken from

bronzes and is distinguished by a shining green glaze.

In the province of Shan-tung, besides the tile works at Lin-

M#^ch'ing,^ the important potteries at Yen-shen Chen in the

Ch'ing-chou Fu are noticed* as follows : " The inhabitants have

inherited from their ancestors the art of making good pottery.

The usual wares are cisterns {kang), jars [ying), cauldrons {fu), and
such-like pottery [fou], made without flaw. The profit to the

people is not less than that made at Ching-te Chen on the right

bank of the Yangtze." Yen-shen Chen is quite close to Po-shan

Hsien, and no doubt the industry at the two places is intimately

connected. The latter, which is noted to this day for its manu-

factures of pottery and glass, has already been mentioned ^ more

than once.

^^At Yi-chen in the Yang-chou Fu, in Kiangsu, there were

factories which supplied wine jars, etc., to the palace at Nanking

in the early years of the Ming dynasty ; and in the seventh year
of Chia Ching (1528) supplies of similar vessels were sent from

1 0. c. A., p. 637.

* Made at Pilkington's Tile Works, Clifton Junction, by Manchester.

3 See p. 202.

* r'u Shu, section entitled T'ao kung pu tsa lu, fol. 2 verso.

» On pp. 103 and 188.