Chats on oriental china

Front matter

DESCRIPTION. OF VASE.

High-necked vase with melon-shaped body and double protuberance above. One of a pair. Formal handles on the neck in imitation of bamboo-work. ‘The body and protuberances decorated with bamboo stems having yellow and green reserves decorated with flowers and plants. The neck decorated with diaper pattern, yellow on green The flattened top ornamented with black and green triangle-work, .

BY

Preface

Ir there is one regret that accompanies the issue of these “Chats on Oriental China” it is that the illustrations could not be given in all the beauty of their magnificent colouring. In a photograph, however fine it may be, it is obvious that only the shape and the decoration can be given. Roughly speaking, the illustrations represent in its Ming and Kang-he specimens about 4100,000 in value. The pieces represented are the most admirable and the rarest. The reader is advised to bestow much attention on the reading of the descriptions accompanying each picture. There is no form of instruction more valuable than this analysis, which forms the basis of the sale catalogues of the most vecherché collections. The collector who masters this book may betake himself to the museums with considerable confidence that he will be in a position to understand ; in fact, to read the pieces which he wishes to study. Take for example, the unique Salting Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. To the ordinary visitor interested in porcelain the specimens present an exquisite, if embarrassing, assembly of choice pieces whose colour, decoration, and age cannot be grasped, they can only be admired. 5

6 PREFACE

The eye may be trained, but the understanding never. The absence of a catalogue handicaps and indeed baffles the amateur. But if the knowledge previously obtained is sufficient to enable him to master the subject, the style, form, and colour, nothing can give more pleasure than the investigation of such a collection which has been brought together at a vast expense of time, money, and knowledge. In the British Museum the descriptive labels are helpful.

In this book the reader will find some statements repeated perhaps over and over again. When we chat about anything we do repeat the points on which we want information, or in which we may be specially interested. The information is concise, so that, section by section, the range of Oriental porcelain will pass before the student, the chief consideration which regulates the letterpress being the space at our disposal.

Naturally the labour bestowed on repression is considerable. When we consider the National Collections of England, France, and Germany alone we find material for many volumes. Perhaps of all the museums that of Limoges, where the Jacquemart and Gasnault collections are so well cared for, is one of the most instructive, and the lover of old Oriental could not do better than spend a holiday at this delightful old French town with the object of really learning what these two friends teach.

With regard to books of reference, all of the recognised authorities have been studied, especially the Jacquemart and Gasnault catalogues and descriptions, and the Pett Guzde Lllustre au Musée Guimet. The visitor to Paris should make a point of visiting this museum, so little known, so intensely

PREFACE 7 interesting, at the junction of the Rue Boissiére and the Avenue d’Iena. Its aim is to propagate a knowledge of the civilisation of the East, to facilitate the study of ancient historical religions largely by means of images, statuettes, or figures. There we see classified methodically, in chronological order, representations of the various divinities in which form and attitude both have a meaning. The specimens are old and rare. The catalogue of the Franks Collection is referred to in the various chapters. Formerly exhibited at the Bethnal Green Museum, the collection is now distributed in the British Museum, where the pieces may be recognised as having a printed description. The two volumes by the late W. G. Gulland are delightful and very helpful, and it was the privilege of the writer to have spent some hours in his company shortly before his lamented decease.

I owe sincere thanks to Mr. Edgar Gorer, of S. Gorer and Son, Bond Street, for his constant courtesy and his kindness in supplying most of the fine illustrations in the book, and for securing permission from other collectors to use their photographs. And more than this, his practical knowledge has been put at my disposal in every way, and specially in reading the proofs. To Messrs. Duveen Brothers, of Bond Street, I am indebted for specimens specially noted. To other friends who have helped recognition is due, especially to Mr. C. H. McQueen, whose knowledge of Chinese porcelain has been altogether at my disposal.

The marks are those given in the Franks catalogue, in Mr. Gulland’s books, and in the Guimet Museum guide. The vastness of the subject here shortly treated may bring many collectors into touch with one another, and the author hopes that they will

8 PREFACE avail themselves of the opportunity of using him as the medium for this intercommunication.

Finally, with regard to the illustrations and the lessons they teach, the reader will note that vases have been selected wherever this has been possible. Generally speaking the vase, being an ornamental and purely decorative object, has received from the Chinese potter that artistic—one is almost tempted to say that reverential—treatment which embodies all that is best in his ceramic art. For the rest, it may be that the mythological aspects of the Oriental decoration, its divinities and their attributes, have received unusual attention. The Buddhist faith, here feebly exposed, embodies the highest truths, and Taoism, the more popular religion, cannot be neglected by any student of Oriental porcelain. The Japanese section is not illustrated. Japanese collectors are keen in collecting old Chinese specimens. |

Contents

PREFACE : . . ; .

SECTION I CHINESE PORCELAIN CHAPTER I, INTRODUCTORY : ge HARD PASTE . . . “ . III, RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY

IV. A SKETCH SHOWING PORCELAIN CLASSED ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE COLOURS AND GLAZES.

Vv. THE FOUR CHIEF FABULOUS ANIMALS AND TWO GODDESSES ° - :

VI. A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF PORCELAIN. . : .

VIl. THE MING DYNASTY AND ITS PRODUCTS .

VIII. THE TSING DYNASTY, KANG-HE PERIOD IX, THE YUNG-CHING PERIOD

Xx. THE KEEN-LUNG PERIOD

XI, MANDARIN PORCELAIN, YUNG-CHING PERIOD AND LATER

PAGE

21 29 35

CHAPTER XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXXVI.

CONTENTS

KEA-KING, TAOU-KWANG, AND THE LATER EMPERORS .

CHINESE WHITE PORCELAIN

SINGLE OR SELF-COLOUR GLAZES : .

CHINESE CRACKLE : .

BLUE AND OTHER COLOURS UNDER THE GLAZE CLOBBER WARE OR REDECORATED PORCELAIN RETICULATED PORCELAIN . . .

DECORATED WITH COLOURED ENAMELS ’

A. THE BLACK FAMILY—‘' FAMILLE NOIRE”

B. THE GREEN FAMILY—‘* FAMILLE VERTE”

C. POWDERED AND MAZARINE BLUE WITH ENAMEL COLOURS

D. THE GREEN AND YELLOW FAMILY—*‘ FAMILLE JAUNE”

E. CORAL RED GROUND—‘“* ROUGE DE FER”

F. THE ROSE FAMILY—“ FAMILLE ROSE”

G. OTHER ENAMEL COLOURS

PORCELAIN OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY IMITATIONS OF ORIENTAL PORCELAIN .

SYMBOLICAL DESIGNS. .

A. EMBLEMS IN ANIMALS B. EMBLEMS IN TREES C. EMBLEMS IN FLOWERS

DATE MARKS ON ORIENTAL PORCELAIN ., SYMBOLICAL MARKS AND ORNAMENTS THE IMMORTALS OR CHENS . .

THE DRESDEN COLLECTION

PAGE

139 147 153 175 181

201 203

3°7 323 337 345 a

CONTENTS 11 SECTION II JAPANESE PORCELAIN AND POTTERY

CHAPTER PAGE XXVII, JAPANESE PORCELAIN AND POTTERY - 349 IMARI, ARITA, OR HIZEN HIRADO NABESHIMA

XXVIII SATSUMA. : ‘ : . oe KYOTO AWATA MARKS, FIRST SET

XXIX. BIZEN OR IMBE : ; : i (OF KUTANI KENZAN WARE YEIRAKU WARE ys" Isa”, : ; ‘ ‘ 375 BANKO .SOMA SANDA SHEBA VARIOUS MARKS, SECOND SET

SECTION III XXXI, SALE PRICES : : : + aes

INDEX . , 403

* re

' ILLUSTRATIONS

VASE, IN PROPER COLOURS, KANG-HE

PAO-YUEH-KOUANG AND TIEN-KONG .

THE DRAGON

THE TRUE KYLIN

THE COREAN LION . .

THE HO-HO OR PH@NIX

KWAN-YIN, MING .

ANOTHER KWAN-YIN, MING .

KWAN-YIN, WITH ATTENDANTS SI-WANG-MU . .

OD-DPAG-MED AMITABHA OR AMIDA WAN CHONG, THE GOD OF THE LEARNED KUAN-TI, THE GOD OF WAR .

WEN-TCHANG, THE GOD OF WISDOM .

PIU-HWO, TAOIST GOD

HAN SEANG-TSE (2) AND CHANG KO-LAOU

BUDDHIST DIVINITIES (2) AND HAN CHUNG-LE .

THE TAOIST IMMORTALS (8) . : THE DOG OF BUDDHA OR COREAN LION.

EMBLEMS IN BIRDS, PHEASANTS

WHITE PORCELAIN, KWAN-YIN . . 43

. Frontispiece

PAGE 40

97 80

ILLUSTRATIONS

‘SANG DE BUF,” SELF-COLOUR. :

**CLAIRE DE LUNE” CRACKLE, SELF-COLOUR . :

TIGER SPOTTED OR SPLASHED GLAZE

PEACH BLOW, WITH WHITE AND CELADON

CRACKLE VASES, &C., MOUNTED IN ORMOLU

BLUE AND WHITE BEAKERS 3 DISHES AND COVERS : .

BLUE AND WHITE VASE; WATER EWER AND COVER

BLUE AND WHITE VASES, WITH LANGE-LYSEN .

BLUE AND WHITE GINGER JAR, OR OVIFORM VASE.

BLUE AND RED UNDER-GLAZE, CONICAL VASE .

RED UNDER-GLAZE, ENAMELS OVER-GLAZE, CYLINDRICAL VASE

RETICULATED INCENSE BURNER

RETICULATED VASE . .

POWDERED-BLUE, DECORATION

POWDERED-BLUE,

FAMILY, FAMILY,

FAMILY,

FAMILY,

FAMILY, FAMILY, FAMILY, FAMILY, FAMILY,

FAMILY,

FAMILY,

PLATES

“FAMILLE NOIRE,’ TEAPOTS » + BOWL » 13 VASES, TAPERING SQUARE ay VASES, PEAR-SHAPED . ” VASES, TWO ‘*FAMILLE VERTE,” VASE, OVIFORM ” 2 LANTERN, EGG-SHELL a 5 VASES (3), SQUARE-SHAPED “ ss VASE, BEAKER- SHAPED

” ” HEXAGONAL, ARROW - STAND .

» ” VASE, GOURD-SHAPED

WITH ‘* FAMILLE VERTE,” AND BLUE

WITH ‘‘ FAMILLE VERTE,’”? DECORATION,

MAZARINE-BLUE, WITH ‘‘ FAMILLE ROSE,’’ DECORATION, VASES

GREEN AND YELLOW FAMILY, ‘‘FAMILLE JAUNE,” VASE, SQUARE-SHAPED . - i , : ‘

249 250

ILLUSTRATIONS 15

PAGE GREEN AND YELLOW FAMILY, ‘‘ FAMILLE JAUNE,” JARDINIERE . 257

CORAL RED, ‘‘ ROUGE DE FER,”’ VASE, CYLINDRICAL : 261 CORAL RED, a ae VASE, CYLINDRICAL . = 262 ROSE FAMILY, ‘‘ FAMILLE ROSE,’”’ RUBY-BACK PLATES, &C. . 266 EGG-SHELL, ‘* ROSE” ‘‘VERTE,” VASE . : . . 269 APPLE-GREEN GROUND, MING BISCUIT, TEAPOTS . : 273 APPLE-GREEN GROUND, LANG-YAO, VASES , F 2 294 DELICATE GREEN GROUND, VASE, GOURD-SHAPED . ; 277 DELICATE GREEN GROUND, VASES, KEA-KING . a . 278 AUBERGINE GROUND, VASES, FLAT-SHAPED . ; . 281 MANDARIN CHINA, VASES, CONICAL, EGG-SHELL : « 282 THE IMMORTALS: HAN CHUNG-LE; LEU TUNG-PIN . : 340

LE TEE-KWAE; TSAOU KWO-KIU : é s BAT

LAN TSAE-HO; CHANG KO-LAOU . : 342

HAN SEANG-TSZE; HO SEEN-KOO - 343 FIVE CLAWS; HO-HO BIRD. ; : ; . 354

DOG OF FO; THE KYLIN . ; : ‘ : - 355 che nln tes ie oe eh

Q sl S . <a a2 ] PERN Sek s Cl We arts wk ae ee ee eS

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The chief books referred to in this volume are :— FRANKS, Sir A. W. Bethnal Green Collection. Catalogue of Original Pottery and Porcelain.

GULLAND, W.G. Chinese Porcelain. 2 vols. With Illustrations. The small Guide to the Musée Guimet. Paris.

GLOSSARY

Base. The solid support or bottom of any vessel either simple or ornamentally shaped.

Beaker. The Chinese beaker is a trumpet-shaped vase, having neither handle nor spout nor beak.

Biscuit. Porcelain unglazed, having no gloss.

Body. The part of a vase which corresponds with the body in the human figure. The shape may be simple, or two or more forms combined.

Bottle. A vase with spheroidal body, long neck and narrow mouth. The gourd-shaped Oriental bottle may be double, having three bodies diminishing from the bottom upwards.

Burnt-in. A term used to distinguish the painted from the enamelled porcelain, the first being burnt in with the glaze, the second having the colours laid over the glaze.

Celadon. The soft green colour upon pieces of old Oriental. See further in the section dealing with colours mixed with the glaze and burnt in at the first firing. European glaze is nearly always transparent and colourless.

China or Porcelain Paste is translucid, in pottery it is opaque.

) 17

18 GLOSSARY

Colours. Five colours :—green, yellow, aubergine, blue, and red. Three colours :—green, a curious shade ; yellow, varying from pale to bright ; aubergine, also varying in tone.

Egg-shell China first appeared in the Yung-lo period, and later it was as thin as bamboo paper. Under the Lung-king and Wan-leih emperors pure white porcelain of this kind was called “egg-shell.” In many pieces the paste is so thin as to appear to be only two layers of glaze.

Enamel, Mixed with a glassy composition were certain transparent or opaque colours which were used in over the glaze decoration. In pottery they are used in the glaze.

Fen-ting. Soft paste, or more correctly, soft glaze porcelain.

Figures, Figurines, Magots, Statuettes, are single, grouped, or attached as ornaments to a piece; such as the eight immortals, etc.

Forms. These are diversified. Cylindrical, globular or spheroidal, egg-shaped or ovoid; apple-shaped or pomiform, pear-shaped or pyriform ; cubical, hexagonal, etc.

Glaze. The composition used for coating porcelain or pottery. It literally means covering with glass or any vitrifiable substance having similar properties.

Grand Feu. The kiln at its greatest heat in which the clays were acted upon so as to produce porcelain or pottery. The decoration was often fixed in the “ petit feu,’ or muffle kiln. The hard firing, when less than the maximum heat was required, was done in the “ demi-grand feu.”

Graviata. This name is given to patterns traced or cut on the porcelain or on the enamel.

“ Hundred Antiques.” A form of decoration, consisting of utensils, symbols, vases, &c., called ‘‘ po-ku.”

Kaolin. Porcelain or china clay, derived from the decomposition of granite rocks.

Kiln, “Grand feu” first baking, temperature about 4717° Fahrenheit. “Demi-grand feu” for fixing colours which could bear intense heat which were applied before glazing. More delicate enamel colours were applied for firing in the “ petit feu” or muffle kiln.

Mandarin. A term applied to Chinese porcelain decorated with a certain class of figure subjects.

Mice China has ornament, in high relief, of the branches, leaves, and fruit of the vine, with squirrels or foxes, so-called mice, also in relief. It is Mandarin eighteenth century as a rule.

Moulds. These are used for figures and for the various ornaments which are fixed upon the piece.

Naga. This word translated means Dragon, which is dealt with under that name.

GLOSSARY 19

Neck. In the bottle, flagon, and flask, the neck is of different length and form. The throat may be narrow or wide, inclining inwards or outwards, or even perpendicular.

Ornaments. These are very varied. They may be in relief, reticulated, impressed, engraved in the paste ; or they may be arabesque, grotesque ; or they may be lines in angles, lozenges, zigzags, ribbons, and paintings of every kind.

Paste. The body of which porcelain or pottery vessels is made. Hard paste cannot be scratched or filed and resists the action of great heat. Soft paste is easily scratched and is melted by intense heat.

Pekin Ware is graviata of the Taou-kwang period. It was never made in Pekin, but the name is still used.

Petuntze. Pulverised “ china rock” forming a white paste (pe-tun) made into bricks (petuntze). It melts in the heat of a porcelain furnace into a milky glass.

Pin-points are tiny holes found on the bottom of early Chinese porcelain.

Porcelain. A compound of kaolin and petuntze. The kaolin is not fusible, the petuntze vitrifies and envelopes the kaolin, producing a smooth compact body which is translucent.

Pottery. This is formed of a mixture of clays. Ordinary potter’sclay is used for common earthenware, and a blue clay, of a greyish colour, is much used in making flint-ware.

Saucer. The old Chinese form of the plate is always saucer-shaped. The flattening of the rim produced the dish and plate. Raising the sides gave the bowl, basin, and cup. By adding a handle we have the tea-cup.

Seggar. This is the protective vessel or case in which the pieces of porcelain or pottery are burnt in the kiln.

Slip. The liquid clay which is applied to the piece, under or over the glaze, either by pouring or painting. ~

Stoneware. Hard pottery which forms the link between porcelain and earthenware. In Chinese products stoneware is used with self-colours applied in the glaze.

Vases. All vessels used for drinking cups and goblets, for ointments or perfumes, for holding, carrying, or pouring wine, oil, or water ; and similar or varied forms used solely for ornament.

Willow Pattern. A popular decoration of Nankin blue services. There are several varieties, but all have the weeping willow.

Yao-pien. The Chinese name for splashed, “shot” silk, or variegated glazes.

I

Section 1 Introductory

CHAPTER: I INTRODUCTORY

THIS book does not pretend to do more than to indicate to the collector the lines on which collections could or should be made, for “Chats on old Oriental China” scarcely imply a scientific treatise. Incidentally one point will lead on to another, but with always this object in view, to send the collector to the museums to train his eye as well as his understanding and to bring him in touch with all that makes for beauty in Oriental porcelain, a porcelain teaming with mythology, having decorations saturated with that mythology, full of emblems of all that concerns the best and highest life of the Chinese, pointing, we may say, to a religion which, although feebly understood in Europe, has been for centuries a real moving factor in the national life of the Oriental peoples. Hence, when we find the earliest European copies framed on Chinese mythology, and birds and flowers and beasts all unknown to the Occidental mind figuring upon vases at Dresden, at Chelsea, or at Sevres we are struck 23 with the incongruity of the association. All European factories, at the first, strove to imitate that porcelain which had been in existence in China long before history in Europe had begun its accurate chronology.

There are collectors of the European productions who revel in the delights of fine Dresden groups, of marvellous Chelsea or Worcester vases, of Bristol figures and the other magnificent productions of the European factories in earthenware and porcelain, but we may safely say that the collector who takes up the study of Oriental porcelain relegates all these European productions into oblivion, and has only one desire, to secure the best possible specimens from the land of far Cathay.

The collection of Oriental porcelain is not easy, especially with regard to the finer productions. The old figures, vases and dishes made hundreds of years ago, decorated with taste and skill beyond all comparison, these can be purchased only by the few. But there are many genuine old pieces still unrecognised, but valuable, each telling its own story, and that story one that can be learnt. We said that there were dangers to the collector, and this is true; for centuries the Chinese and Japanese have reproduced with minute accuracy the early productions —the Ming and the Kang-he—and the European factories have, in these later times, poured out upon the market many marvellous forgeries which would deceive, possibly, the very expert. The German imitations are passable, but those produced in France, especially in Paris, are so excellent that it would be well for buyers to judge of them, by daylight only—in fact, in buying any fine porcelain this rule should be adhered to. Remember this, there is no forgery existing which would deceive an a

INTRODUCTORY 25 expert worthy of the name, as there is, without exception, always a failure in some point, either in the colouring, glazing, paste, or drawing, which betrays the copy to a thorough student of Chinese porcelain. The best imitations are those made in Hungary about forty to fifty years ago; the German copies by comparison are very inferior and weak. Never buy by artificial light, for “colours seen by candle-light do not look the same by day.” Marks on porcelain should always be ignored, except when the piece bearing the said mark is beyond doubt; it is an added interest to have a mark of the proper period. Not alone are patterns forged, but marks are forged; hence when pattern and mark both agree with the old example, something more is required than a mere superficial knowledge of pattern and mark—that is, the paste or body has to be known, and more, the eye has to be trained so as to distinguish the special character of the piece—in fact, it is the cout ensemble which to the finest judges is the surest guide. They cannot tell why they know, but by a look they do know. It may be that the atmospheric influences extending over long years has softened and modified the colours and taken from them their boldness, so that’ when paste and glaze and colour all please the trained eye the purchase may be made in safety. And here we should advise our readers rather to buy from a respectable dealer than at auction sales. In the excitement of auction sales higher prices may be paid than would be prudent, or, indeed, it may be that the quality of the specimen bid for is not exactly that which the buyer requires, and the difficulty of changing it is accentuated when the purchaser buys at an auction. In fact, toa beginner with money to spend, no advice can be better than that he should put himself in the hands of a respectable dealer, informing him of his wants, telling him the price he is prepared to pay, and leaving him to deal squarely and fairly. Not only is there danger of the marks being forged and the pattern copied, but really old pieces of Oriental porcelain are often redecorated, so that upon an old piece is found the most elaborate decoration. This to the collector is most puzzling. He sees the porcelain is rare, and, as we have said, really old, and that the pattern and colour of the decoration is what he has been accustomed to either at Exhibitions, such as those in the National Museums, or in illustrations as given in the best books, yet the specimen is not right and it can be tested. The enamel decoration on a re-decorated piece produces a different effect from that upon an old piece. In the latter the enamel colours do not stand out like modern oil painting, but they lie flat and agree in general character and tone with the porcelain itself. Sometimes, in these re-decorated pieces, traces of the old decorations, covered up under the modern enamel decorations, may be found,

Amongst other hints to the collector of old Oriental porcelain must be one with regard to cracked and mended porcelain. By this we mean not alone those pieces which are built up as far as some particular part is concerned, and which can be tested by striking the various parts with a coin, when the difference between the ring of the original part and the dull sound from the composition used in mending may be easily detected. Further, the sense of smell may be brought into play. Generally, the composition used in mending old porcelain in this way smells of oil or turpentine. The third test may be applied by means of a magnifying-glass

INTRODUCTORY 27 which will at once reveal the difference between the smooth original glaze and the varnish glaze added to cover the mend. But this is not all. Some mending is done at the factories, where a piece of porcelain of the same tone and colour, with the same decoration, is built and fixed on to the sound piece in such a way as to leave no trace that can be detected by sound, sight, or smell. In this case it really matters very little, as the character of the old porcelain is so well preserved that the piece may be regarded as being perfect. A very simple test for detecting a repair in porcelain is to pass the point of a pin, not too heavily, over the suspected part, when if the original has been at all interfered with, scratches and marks of the pin will be easily seen.

Chapter II Hard Paste

NEARLY the whole of Oriental porcelain is hard paste. By this we mean it cannot be cut with a file. Both paste and glaze are hard, and although some people speak of soft-paste Oriental porcelain our observation teaches us that it is so rare that it may be neglected by the ordinary collector, who, if he should accidentally find a piece, will remember that this soft paste is of a very white colour with an opaque look, and for painting under the glaze seemed to have the disadvantage that the colours were more liable torun than on the ordinary description, which is just like what has been found on early English soft-paste porcelain, where the colours are liable to run upon the paste. In the Chinese soft paste better effect was produced by the hatching and stippling style of decoration which was adopted in later times and superseded the broad washes adopted in the Kang-he period.

Porcelain in China was usually formed of two materials, of which one—Pe-tun-tze—resembles our China stone. It is a white fusible material, a mixture of felspar and quartz, obtained from pounded rock and formed into cakes or bricks, hence its

Chinese name. 31

The other material is named Kaolin, or China clay. It is infusible, and is derived from the decomposed felspar of granite. This is also formed into cakes. When these two materials, China rock and China clay, have been thoroughly ground, cleansed, sifted and refined into an impalpable powder, they are kneaded together in varying proportions to form a clay ready for the potter. The wet clay is turned > on the potter’s wheel or table, then is passed through the hands of various workmen who add handles and other decorations made in moulds, who smooth the surface and so work upon it that the next process— the drying process—is preparatory to the under-glaze decoration. In this semi-soft state the foot remains a solid mass. Any decorations in blue or red or other colours which can be applied under the glaze are then used for painting the under-glaze decoration. The glaze is next applied in various ways by dipping, by blowing on with a tube, by sprinkling, and so on. When these processes have been completed it only remains for the potter to fashion the foot upon the wheel and to inscribe any mark which may be adopted. These being then coated with glaze, the piece is ready for the furnace.

Porcelain placed in the kiln to be fired has to be protected in strong clay vessels called seggars, which admit the heat but protect it from injury. Every piece is placed in the kiln according to the temperature which is necessary for its complete firing. Some pieces would be placed at the top of the kiln, other pieces at the tip-top of the kiln, very much in accordance with the practice in our English potteries at the present time. The furnace when full is entirely bricked up and the whole contents of the kiln are kept at a great heat, usually for a night and a day, after which the kiln

HARD PASTE 33 is allowed to cool off, and in due time the porcelain is removed. In speaking of white porcelain, or porcelain decorated under the glaze, the process is now complete, but if enamel colours are used further burnings in a kiln take place. After the enamel decoration has been applied over the glaze —and the painters who use the enamel colours may take long weeks or months in decorating a single piece—and until the whole is finished, the piece is fired again and again in a kiln at a much lower temperature, the process being quite similar to the previous one, although the heat is much less. Colours which are applied with the glaze, as we shall see later—self-colours, such as the Celadons—pass only through the first process and need no second firing.

In Chinese porcelain it is well to note that no distinction is made between pottery and porcelain ; the European distinction is that whereas pottery is opaque, porcelain is translucent. It is often difficult to say when heavy Celadon colours are applied to pieces of Oriental manufacture whether the body is porcelain or pottery. The pieces decorated with heavy Celadon colours are very often on a porcellaneous stone ware, which is generally accepted as marking the evolution period between pottery and the hard porcelain. There are many examples of fine pottery—stone ware—dating from the Ming period which are unmistakable.

Ill

RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY ax aes

CHAPTER..1u RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY

WE have noted previously that the decoration of Oriental porcelain is largely bound up in mythology, nay, more, it is largely connected with religion. The religions of China must therefore receive some attention from those who would really understand the beauty of the decorations used by the Chinese. China possesses three principal religions, of which two are national—Confucianism and Taoism—one imported from India—Buddhism. Although Confucianism may be said to be the official religion of the Court, of the functionaries, and of the learned, it is not a religion in the sense which we attach to the word. Confucius was the reformer of the ancient national religion, which was really fetishism. It isa ~ code of practical morality based upon the duties and obligations of mankind, and respect for both ancestors and antiquity. Idols such as images of gods and spirits are put on one side. Confucius recognised implicitly the existence of a God creator of the world—Chang-ti, the Emperor Supreme, or Thien, the Heaven; the Emperor alone as “Son of Heaven” was, as it were, the priest, acting in the name of all his people, addressing to the Creator of the world prayers and thanksgivings, at . 37 the winter and summer solstices and at the spring equinox.

Not alone does the God of Heaven partake of these ceremonies in the Imperial worship, but the goddesses of the earth, and the various genii of the waters, of the mountains, and stars, and the Imperial ancestors. No images are made of these, and they are only represented on the altars by tablets on which are their names. Confucianism orders respect and veneration for ancestors, who ought to be cherished and treated as if they were living, so that the ancestral worship was an incessant witness of gratitude and thanks, which has become the only real religion of the followers of Confucius in China.