The following extract from a work entitled _Pi chuang so yü_,[152] which would be still more interesting if we knew its date, serves to illustrate some of the difficulties the Chinese collector had to face in the past: "Ancient examples of Ko yao of the Sung period have survived, though for a long time past genuine and counterfeit have been confused together. Among men there are very many who seek for the genuine Sung, but refined and beautiful specimens are exceedingly few.... Ts´ao Chiung, a man of high birth, secured an incense burner, in height about two inches and in width proportionate. The cover was beautiful jade carved with a pattern of sea waves of _Tung ch´ing_[153] colour, with a handle in form of a crane, a genuine piece, and exceedingly beautiful. It came to the ears of the eunuch Mai, governor of the district, and he put Chiung in prison and subjected him to the inquisition. His son had no choice but to offer the vessel as a gift. Later the powerful hand of the superintendent of the Board of Rites seized it. In the Chêng Tê period (1522-66) it was stolen, and, coming to the district below Wu, it became the property of Chang Hsin-fu of Tien-shan, Shanghai, who sold it for 200 ounces of gold. After that it came again into the hands of a connoisseur, and the Imperial authorities in the end did not succeed in recovering it. This was a genuine antique Ko vessel." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 95: Quoted in the _T´ao lu_, bk. ix., fol. 9 verso. We gather from this passage that Ju Chou potters were summoned to the Imperial precincts at K´ai-fêng Fu; for Ju Chou itself is some distance from the capital.] [Footnote 96: The _Liu ch´ing jih cha_--a Ming work quoted in the _T´ao shuo_--describes it as "in colour like Ko ware, but with a faint yellowish tinge"; and the more modern _T´ao lu_ (bk. vi., fol. 2) speaks of it as having "clay fine and lustrous like copper."] [Footnote 97: [Chinese] _tan ch'ing_, according to the _Ko ku yao lun_.] [Footnote 98: [Chinese] _luan pai_; according to the _Po wu yao lan_. Of three specimens figured in Hsiang's Album (op. cit., pp. 19, 22 and 34), two are described as _yü lan_ (i.e. sky blue), and _fên ch'ing_ (pale blue or green), and the third is undescribed.] [Footnote 99: Pt. i., fols. 8 and 9.] [Footnote 100: It is not clear what these markings were, whether spots in the glaze or a kind of crackle. The simile of "crabs' claws" is applied to crackle in other passages.] [Footnote 101: [Chinese]] [Footnote 102: This interesting list, given in the _Chiang hsi t'ung chih_, bk. xciii., fol. ii., is summarised in vol. ii., ch. xii. It is also quoted in the _T'ao lu_, and translated by Bushell, _O.C.A._, p. 369.] [Footnote 103: See Bushell, _O.C.A._, plate 77.]