Of the three kinds of ornament usually associated by Chinese writers with the Ting ware; the _hua hua_ (carved decoration) and the _yin hua_ (stamped or moulded decoration) have already been mentioned. The meaning of the third, _hsiu hua_,[193] is not so clear, as the phrase can bear two interpretations, viz. painted ornament or embroidered ornament. In the latter sense it would suggest a rich decoration like that of brocade without indicating the method by which it was applied. But in the former it was the usual Chinese expression for painted ornament, and it is difficult to imagine that it was intended to indicate anything else in the present context. On the other hand, no examples of painted Ting ware are known to exist either in actual fact or in Chinese descriptions. This anomaly, however, may perhaps be explained in one of two ways. A creamy white ware of _t´u ting_ type, boldly painted with brown or black designs, is known to have been made at the not far distant factories of Tz´ŭ Chou[194] in the Sung dynasty, and it is possible that either the painted Ting ware has been grouped with the Tz´ŭ Chou ware in modern collections, or that Chinese writers mistook the Tz´ŭ Chou ware for painted Ting ware and added this third category to the Ting wares by mistake. In any case they regarded the painted ware as an inferior article. The high estimation in which fine specimens of white Ting ware have always been held by Chinese connoisseurs is well illustrated by a passage in the _Yün shih chai pi t´an_.[195] It tells how Mr. Sun of the Wu-i river estate treasured in his mountain retreat Ting yao incense-burners, and among them one exquisite specimen of the Sung period. It was a round vessel with ear handles and three feet, and the inscription _li hsi yai_ ([Chinese]) was engraved in seal characters on the stand. During the Japanese raids in the Chia Ching period this vessel passed into the hands of one Chin Shang-pao, who sold it to T´ang, the President of Sacrifices (_t´ai ch´ang_), of P´i-ling. T´ang, whose residence bore the romantic but chilly name of Ning-an (Frozen Hut), is the celebrated collector mentioned in connection with another Ting vessel on p. 95. "Although T´ang had many wonderful porcelains," the story runs, "when this vessel arrived, they all, without exception, made way for it. And so throughout the land when men discuss porcelains, they give the first place to T´ang's white incense vase. T´ang, they say, did not readily allow it to be seen." And in this respect, if all accounts are true, T´ang was not unlike a good many Chinese collectors of the present day.