As we have said, there are very few examples in our public collections
that can with any assurance be attributed to Sung times. In the British
Museum, in the same case with the Kien yao tea-bowl already mentioned,
is a jar some twelve inches in height, with two small handles on the
shoulder. It is of irregular shape and covered with a thick glaze of a
pale turquoise blue, faintly crackled. Close to the mouth is a bright
red mark, like a piece of sealing-wax, due probably to the local partial
reduction of the copper. This beautiful but very archaic-looking jar
(PL. IV.) is attributed to no earlier date than the later or southern
Sung dynasty (1127-1279). Among the large number of crackle monochrome
pieces in the same collection there are many specimens which a Chinese
connoisseur would classify as Ko yao, and similarly some of the old
_flambé_ pieces might be termed Chün yao, without definitely assigning
them to Sung times. The Lung-Chuan celadons are represented by some
early pieces, more than one distinguished by the red foot. There are
some fine plates of old heavy celadon at South Kensington, not a few
purchased in Persia. Here may also be found a celadon jar cut down at
the neck; and the ‘mouth’ thus artificially formed has been carefully
stained of a red colour to imitate the old ware. The French museums are
particularly rich in specimens of old _martabani_ celadon--I would point
especially to several large dishes both at Sèvres and in the _Musée
Guimet_. But what is perhaps the finest collection in Europe of celadon
and other old wares is now to be seen in the museum at Gotha. It was
brought together by the late Duke of Edinburgh, who added to previous
acquisitions the collection formed in China by Dr. Hirth.
YUAN DYNASTY (1280-1368).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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