Chinese pottery and porcelain; vol. 1. Pottery and early waresHobson, R. L. (Robert Lockhart)
History
Chinese pottery and porcelain; vol. 1. Pottery and early wares
Hobson, R. L. (Robert Lockhart)
Porcelain, Chinese; Pottery, Chinese
The modern potteries at Yo Chou in Shensi are represented in the Field
Museum, Chicago, by a black-painted ware in Tz´ŭ Chou style, by a greyish
white ware with sketchy blue designs, and by a black slag-like earthenware
which is extremely light to handle. It is also suggested that a well known
type of pottery, painted with free floral designs in black and white on
a creamy glaze which is stained a pinkish brown colour, is an earlier
product of the same potteries.
The potteries at Ch´ü-yang Hsien [Chinese] in the Chên-ting Fu, in Chihli,
are mentioned[432] in the administrative records of the Ming dynasty in
the Hsüan Tê period, and again under the dates 1553 and 1563, as supplying
wine jars and vases for the Court. This place is only a few miles east of
Ting Chou, which was celebrated for its white wares in the Sung period,
and these references carry the record of the industry in that district to
the last 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
Bushell[433] 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 (Cincinnati, Ohio,
U.S.A.) and on the Lancastrian wares[434] are of this kind, the infinity
of metallic specks being due to "super-saturation" of the glaze with iron
oxide. A specimen of this modern Peking ware may be seen in the British
Museum.
The tile works at Liu-li-chü, near Peking, date back to the Yüan 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 Shantung, besides the tile works at Lin-ch´ing,[435]
the important, potteries at Yen-shên Chên [Chinese] in the Ch´ing-chou Fu
are noticed[436] 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-tê Chên on the right bank of the Yangtze." Yen-shên Chên 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
manufactures of pottery and glass, has already been mentioned[437] more
than once.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Plate 55.--Ming Pottery with dull _san ts´ai_ glazes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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