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
In addition to the Lung-ch´üan and Ch´u-chou celadons, which are readily
recognised by their peculiar glaze and their reddish brown foot rims,
there are many other kinds which are not easy to classify. Some of these
have a dry, buff stoneware body and brownish green glaze, while others
have a glaze of decided grey or blue grey tone. In conjecturing the
origin of these we must take into consideration the private factories
which existed under the Northern Sung at Ch´ên-liu[168] and other
localities in the neighbourhood of the eastern capital (_tung ching_),
now named K´ai-fêng Fu, in Honan. The _Ko ku yao lun_[169] describes the
ware of these parts under the heading _Tung yao_[170]: "It is pale green
(_ch´ing_) in colour, with fine crackle, and in many cases has a brown
mouth and iron foot. Compared with Kuan ware it lacks the red tinge, and
its material is coarse, wanting in fineness and lustre, and far from
equalling that of the Kuan ware. At the present day (i.e. 1887) it is
rarely seen." Other writers repeat this passage with little alteration,
though the author of the _T´ao lu_ adds that the clay was of black colour
and the glaze of varying depth. Hsiang's Album includes one specimen of
the _tung ch´ing tz´ŭ_, describing the colour as _t´ieh ts´ui_, which
probably means the blue green shade of distant hills.[171] _Tung ch´ing_
glaze is included in the list of those imitated in the Imperial factories
about 1780, two kinds, pale and deep, being specified; and the _T´ao
lu_[172] informs us that the _Tung ch´ing_ was copied to a considerable
extent at Ching-tê Chên in the early nineteenth century, and that the
modern glaze was exactly like the old. That this modern glaze was only a
variety of celadon is shown by the recipe given in the same work,[173]
viz. "to add to the ordinary glaze some of the mixture containing
ferruginous earth," which differs from that given for the modern
Lung-ch´üan glaze only in the absence of the pinch of cobalt (see vol ii.,
p. 189).
A verse from a poem by Chang-lei (1046-1106) indicates the green colour of
the ware: "Green jade (_pi yü_) when carved makes a vessel; know it to be
the porcelain (_tz´ŭ_) of the Tung kilns [Chinese]."[174]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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