Page 368 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

——

210 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

on the paste and glaze, the style of decoration and the quality of the

colours. The one exception to this declaration of unfaith is the

marks on the Imperial porcelain. These would naturally be correct

and reliable, except where deliberate imitations of the older wares

were undertaken ; and then, no doubt, the mark of the period
imitated would be used to make the illusion complete. The Imperial

marks were the work of calligraphers who were selected for the

purpose, and the writing is careful and in good style. In fact a well-

written mark is almost as certain a sign of Imperial ware as the

five-clawed dragon itself.^

At the private factories the marks were often carelessly, even

illegibly, written, and probably little trouble was taken with this

part of the decoration except on the choicer specimens. On a

large proportion of the private wares the mark was omitted altogether.

The marks on Chinese pottery and porcelain may be conveniently

grouped under the following headings :

(1) Date marks.

(2) Hall marks. v

(3) Potters' names and factory marks.

(4) Marks of dedication, felicitation, commendation, etc.

(1) Bate marks.

The date marks conform to the two Chinese systems of chron-

ology, {a) the cyclical, and (6) the reign names of the Emperors.
[a) The system by which the years are divided into cycles of

sixty, each year of the cycle having a name, carries back Chinese

chronology to the year 2637 b.c, from which the first cycle is dated.

We are at present in the 76th cycle.

The year names are composed of two characters, the first being

one of the Ten Stems, and the second one of the Twelve Branches ;

and as the stems and the branches are taken in strict rotation, it is

clear that the combinations will not be exhausted until sixty have

been formed, that number being the least common multiple of ten

and twelve.

^The Ten Stems -f- Shih kan are as follows :

^1 chia =) corresponding to the element i^ niu wood.
oyi
(

R P* g =( corresponding to the element iK hiio fire.

4 J ting }

1 The Ch'ien Lung enamelled Imperial ware is frequently marked in red within
a square panel reserved in the opaque bluish green enamel which so often covers the

base.