[359] White was also used in the worship of the Year Star (Jupiter). Other colours which have a ritual significance are _yellow_, used in the Ancestral Temple by the Emperor, and on the altars of the god of Agriculture and of the goddess of Silk; _blue_, in the Temple of Heaven and in the Temple of Land and Grain; and _red_, in the worship of the Sun. [360] Brinkley has aptly described it as “snow-white oil.” [361] Cf. Père d’Entrecolles, second letter, section xviii.: “(The designs) are first outlined with a graving-tool on the body of the vase, and afterwards lightly channelled around to give them relief. After this they are glazed.” [362] See d’Entrecolles, loc. cit., sections iv. and v. After describing the preparation of the steatite (_hua shih_) by mixing it with water, he continues: “Then they dip a brush in the mixture and trace various designs on the porcelain, and when they are dry the glaze is applied. When the ware is fired, these designs emerge in a white which differs from that of the body. It is as though a faint mist had spread over the surface. The white from _hoa che_ (_hua shih_ or _steatite_) is called ivory white, _siam ya pe_ (_hsiang ya pai_).” In the next section he describes another material used for white painting under the glaze. This is _shih kao_, which has been identified with fibrous gypsum. [363] See p. 74. [364] First letter, Bushell, op. cit., p. 195. [365] _O. C. A._, p. 533. [366] _Ku chin t’u shu_, section xxxii., vol. 248, fol. 15. In this way, we are told, were produced (1) the thousandfold millet crackle and (2) the drab-brown (_ho_) cups. The colour of the latter was obtained by rubbing on a decoction of old tea leaves. The former is a name given to a glaze broken into “numerous small points.” [367] See Bushell, _T’ao shuo_, loc. cit., p. 195. [368] The _Tao lu_ (see Julien, p. 214) informs us that the _sui ch’i yu_ (crackle ware glaze) was made from briquettes formed of the natural rock of San-pao-p’êng. If highly refined this material produced small crackle; if less carefully refined, coarse crackle. In reference to _sui ch’i_ in an earlier part of the same work, we are told that the Sung potters mixed _hua shih_ with the glaze to produce crackle. _Hua shih_ is a material of the nature of steatite, and Bushell (_O. C. A._, p. 447) states that the Chinese potters mix powdered steatite with the glaze to make it crackle. It is, then, highly probable that the “white pebbles” of Père d’Entrecolles and the rock of San-pao-p’êng are the same material and of a steatitic nature. [369] [chch 3]. Another name of this official, _Yen kung_, is mentioned in the _T’ao lu_, bk. v., fol. 11 verso. [370] Situated at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze. [371] Loc. cit. [372] Silvering the entire surface (_mo yin_), as opposed to merely decorating with painted designs in silver (_miao yin_), appears to have been a novelty introduced by T’ang Ying.