Page 58 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

12 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

Fine Arts Museum at Boston, has a posthumous date ^ incised on the

neck corresponding to the year 133 B.C.
Fig. 2 is a rare specimen with reddish body and pohshed black

surface in which are incised designs of birds, dragons and fish, and
bands of Vandykes, lozenges and pointed quatrefoil ornaments. It
has the usual mask handles, and stands 16 inches high.

On Plate 3, Fig. 1, is a " hill jar " with brown glaze, standing
on three feet which are moulded with bear forms. On the side is a

frieze in strong relief with hunting scenes of animals, such as the

tiger, boar, monkey, deer, hydra and demon figures, spaced out by

conventional waves. This kind of frieze is frequently found ornament-
ing the shoulders of vases such as Fig. 1 of Plate 2, and the animals

are usually represented in vigorous movement, often with fore and
hind legs outstretched in a " flying gallop." The cover is moulde(i~
to suggest mountains rising from sea waves (the sea-girt isles of the

Taoist Immortals), peopled with animals.

Fig. 2 is a green-glazed box or covered bowl of elegant form, the
cover moulded in low relief with a quatrefoil design surrounded by

a frieze of animals.

Fig. 3 is an incense burner of rare form derived from a bronze.
It is a variation of the more usual " hill censer " (po shan hi) which
has the same body with a cover in the form of hills as on Fig. 1.
In this case the cover suggests a lotus flower in bud, and is surmounted
by a duck. The whole is coated with an iridescent green glaze.

A few choice specimens of green-glazed Han pottery in the

S. T. Peters Collection includes a well-modelled duck, a hand-

some vase with mask handles and hexagonal base, and a good
example of the " granary urn." The last is a grain jar which
derives its form from a granary tower. In some instances the tiled
roof of the tower is represented by tile-mouldings on the shoulder

;

but in this instance the form is entirely conventionalised into a
cylindrical vase supported by three bear-shaped feet. The bear,

an emblem of strength, is commonly emploj^ed in this capacity

in Han art. Another ornamental form borrowed from a homely

object is the model of a well-head, of cylindrical shape, with arched
superstructure, in the centre of which a pulley-wheel is repre-
sented. The well bucket is usually added, resting on the edge of

the well.

* See Burlington Magazine, December, 1913, where it is published with a note on
the inscription by F. S. Kershaw.