Plate 32.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 1.—Figure of a Lohan with a Deer, creamy white glaze coloured with black slip and painted with green and red enamels. Said to be Sung dynasty. Height 121/2inches.Fig. 2.—Vase withgraffiatopeony scrolls under a green glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 16 inches.
Plate 32.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 1.—Figure of a Lohan with a Deer, creamy white glaze coloured with black slip and painted with green and red enamels. Said to be Sung dynasty. Height 121/2inches.Fig. 2.—Vase withgraffiatopeony scrolls under a green glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 16 inches.
Plate 32.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 1.—Figure of a Lohan with a Deer, creamy white glaze coloured with black slip and painted with green and red enamels. Said to be Sung dynasty. Height 121/2inches.
Fig. 2.—Vase withgraffiatopeony scrolls under a green glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 16 inches.
Plate 33.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Fig. 1.—Vase with panel of figures representing music, painted in black under a blue glaze. Yüan dynasty. Height 111/2inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 2.—Vase with incised designs in a dark brown glaze, a sage looking at a skeleton. Yüan dynasty. Height 127/8inches.Peters Collection.Fig. 3.—Vase with painting in black and band of marbled slips. Sung dynasty. Height 16 inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Plate 33.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Fig. 1.—Vase with panel of figures representing music, painted in black under a blue glaze. Yüan dynasty. Height 111/2inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 2.—Vase with incised designs in a dark brown glaze, a sage looking at a skeleton. Yüan dynasty. Height 127/8inches.Peters Collection.Fig. 3.—Vase with painting in black and band of marbled slips. Sung dynasty. Height 16 inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Plate 33.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.
Fig. 1.—Vase with panel of figures representing music, painted in black under a blue glaze. Yüan dynasty. Height 111/2inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 2.—Vase with incised designs in a dark brown glaze, a sage looking at a skeleton. Yüan dynasty. Height 127/8inches.Peters Collection.
Fig. 3.—Vase with painting in black and band of marbled slips. Sung dynasty. Height 16 inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Plate 34.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 1.—Bottle of white porcellanous ware with black glaze and floral design in lustrous brown. Sung dynasty or earlier. (?) Tz´ŭ Chou ware. Height 131/2inches.Fig. 2.—Bottle with bands of key pattern and lily scrolls cut away from a black glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 91/4inches.Fig. 3.—Bottle withgraffiatodesign in white slip on a mouse–coloured ground, yellowish glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 13 inches.
Plate 34.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 1.—Bottle of white porcellanous ware with black glaze and floral design in lustrous brown. Sung dynasty or earlier. (?) Tz´ŭ Chou ware. Height 131/2inches.Fig. 2.—Bottle with bands of key pattern and lily scrolls cut away from a black glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 91/4inches.Fig. 3.—Bottle withgraffiatodesign in white slip on a mouse–coloured ground, yellowish glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 13 inches.
Plate 34.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 1.—Bottle of white porcellanous ware with black glaze and floral design in lustrous brown. Sung dynasty or earlier. (?) Tz´ŭ Chou ware. Height 131/2inches.
Fig. 2.—Bottle with bands of key pattern and lily scrolls cut away from a black glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 91/4inches.
Fig. 3.—Bottle withgraffiatodesign in white slip on a mouse–coloured ground, yellowish glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 13 inches.
On the other hand, a greater age has been credited to these pillows in the belief that they are "corpse pillows" recovered from ancient tombs, a theory for which a quotation from a Ming writer in theT´ao shuois responsible.[242]It is stated that "the pillows of ancient porcelain that are two feet and a half long and six inches broad may be used. Those only one foot long are known as 'corpse pillows,' and are among the things found in ancient tombs; and even when these are of white Ting Chou porcelain of the Sung dynasty, they ought not to be used." Now the pillows made by Chang and others are rarely more than a foot long, and according to this passage should be regarded as corpse pillows. But I cannot help thinking that either the measurements given are incorrect, or that the figures are inaccurately quoted; for apart from the difficulty of making porcelain pillows thirty inches long, such a size would be wholly unnecessary, and is, in fact, more than twice the length of the ordinary Chinese pillow, as we know from existing examples in various materials. At the present day there is no such distinction in size between the two sorts of pillow, and de Groot[243]assures us that the head of the corpse is rested on a small pillow "not differing from those in use among the living."
From the same passage in theT´ao shuowe learn that a curious belief existed in China that porcelain pillows were "efficacious in keeping the eyes clear and preserving the sight, so that even in old age fine writing can be read," and that this belief obtained as early as the Sung dynasty, much use of such pillows having been made in the court of Ning Tsung.
Among the many types of Tz´ŭ Chou ware, old and new, figures and statuettes, usually of deities, played an important part. There are examples of coarse modern figures in the British Museum,but there are others,[244]strong and forcefully modelled, which rank with the best ceramic statuary. These, no doubt, belong to the older and better periods. A good example is shown in Plate 32.
The other large group of Tz´ŭ Chou wares, that with engraved designs (hua, hua), is perhaps the most interesting of the three. One class, the white ware with carved ornament, if it existed, has been merged, like the plain white, in the Ting wares. The vase (Plate 33, Fig. 2) with brown glaze and panelled design exactly corresponding to those of the typical painted wares, but engraved with a pointed instrument through the brown glaze, forms a link between the two main groups.[245]But the more characteristic Tz´ŭ Chou engraved ornament is executed by what is usually known as thegraffiatoprocess, the lines of the design being cut through a layer of slip which contrasts in colour with the underlying material. This is illustrated by those vases on which the ornament is etched through a covering of white slip disclosing the greyish body beneath, or, better still, by specimens like Plate 34, Fig. 3, in which the ground of the pattern is freely cut away, exposing considerable areas of the body.[246]The greyish body colour combines with the transparent but creamy glaze to produce a delicate mouse–coloured surface, from which the pattern stands out in ivory white. In other cases a thick lustrous brown black glaze has been boldly carved, leaving the design to contrast with an unglazed grey biscuit (Plate 34, Fig. 3). By varying and combining these different methods, and by changing and counter–changing the slips, a great diversity of effects was readily obtained. It has been frequently remarked that some of the engraved specimens with bands of large foliage scrolls have an astonishing resemblance to Italiangraffiatoware of the sixteenth century; and this resemblance is particularly striking when, as sometimes happens, a green glaze is used instead of the ordinary creamy covering. No doubt these carved wares, like their fellows with painted ornament,were made for many centuries, but there is good reason to think that they date back to early times, for fragments both of thegraffiatowith white slip and mouse–coloured ground, and of the dark brown glaze cut away, were found in Sir Aurel Stein's excavations in Turfan on sites which can hardly have been open after the twelfth century.[247]An important example recently acquired by the British Museum actually bears a Sung date. It is a pillow with carved panels on the sides containing each a large flower and formal foliage; and on the top is a panel with the four charactersChia kuo yung an("everlasting peace in the family and state") etched in a ground powdered with small circles. This panel is flanked by two incised inscriptions stating that the pillow was made by the Chao family in the fourth year of Hsi Ning (i.e. 1071A. D.). I have seen one other dated specimen ofgraffiatoTz´ŭ Chou ware with beautifully carved floral designs and an inscription of the year 1063. Another Tz´ŭ Chou type is seen in a pillow in the Eumorfopoulos Collection which has passages of marbling in black and brown, and small black rosette ornaments inlaid in Corean fashion. The variety of decorations used on this group of wares seems to be inexhaustible.
It has already been hinted that other factories were at work on the same lines as Tz´ŭ Chou, and as we have no means of identifying their peculiarities, it would perhaps be safer to use some such formula as "Tz´ŭ Chou type" in the ascription of doubtful pieces. Po–Shan Hsien, in Shantung, was mentioned in a note on p. 103, and theT´ao lu[248]gives a short account of another factory at Hsü Chou,[249]in Honan, where thetz´ŭstone (see p. 101) was also used in wares which were both plain white and decorated. This factory was active in the Ming dynasty, and it is stated that its wares were superior to the "recent productions"[250]of Tz´ŭ Chou.
A reference to porcelain figures in Honan in the Sung dynasty may be quoted in this connection. It occurs in theLiang ch´i man chih, an early thirteenth–century work by Fei Kuan, and runs as follows: "In Kung Hsien (in the Honan Fu) there are porcelain (tz´ŭ) images called by the name of Lu Hung–chien. Ifyou buy ten tea vessels you can take one image. Hung–chien was a trader who dealt in tea—unprofitably, for he could not refrain from brewing his stock. Hung–chien formerly was very fond of tea, and it brought him to ruin." Possibly the images of Hung–chien, which were given away with ten tea vessels, were made at Tz´ŭ Chou or Hsü Chou. Figures are still part of the stock–in–trade of the former factory.
CHÜN WARES AND SOME OTHERS
Chün ChouChinese charactersware[251]
THE Chün ware is said to have been first made in the early part of the Sung dynasty at Chün Chou or Chün–t´ai, the modern Yü Chou in the K´ai–fêng Fu in Honan. Like the Lung–ch´üan celadon, thanks to its strength and solidity, it has survived in sufficient numbers to give us some idea of the qualities which Chinese writers have described in picturesque terms. That it finds no mention in theCho kêng luand theKo ku yao lunseems to imply that it was not appreciated by the virtuosi of the fourteenth century, owing, no doubt, to the fact that, as hinted in later works, it was chiefly destined for everyday uses and aimed at serviceable qualities rather than "antique elegance." By the end of the Ming dynasty, however, its beautiful glazes had won it a place among the celebrated Sung wares, although even at this time certain varieties only were considered estimable. TheCh´ing pi ts´ang, for instance, which appears to rank the Chün ware above that of Lung–ch´üan, gives the following criticism: "The Chün Chou ware, which is red like rouge, is highly prized; that which isch´inglike onion blue (ts´ung ts´ui), and that which is purplish brown (tzŭ) like ink, are esteemed second; single–coloured pieces, which have the numerals one, two, etc., as marks on the bottom, are choice; the specimens of this ware with mixed colours (tsa sê) are not worth collecting." It was not long, however, before even the despised "mixed colours" were not only appreciated by collectors, but studiously imitated by the Ching–tê Chên potters.
The body of the wares, which are now classed as "Chün type," varies considerably in quality and texture. The choicest examples in Western collections, usually deep flower pots or shallow bulb bowls with lovely glazes of dove grey, lavender, crushed strawberry,dappled purple and crimson, and other tints, are made of a clay which, though dark–coloured on the exterior, shows considerable refinement and closeness of texture within. It is, in fact, a porcellanous ware of whitish grey tone. It is noticed that these pieces are almost always marked with incised Chinese numerals, and there are critics who would confine the Chün wares to this group alone. But it is clear from a passage in thePo wu yao lan[252]that there were other types in which the body was of "yellow sandy earthenware," coarse and thick, and without refinement, with all the characteristics, in fact, of the ware which these same critics habitually relegate to the category ofYüan tz´ŭ, or ware of the Yüan dynasty. But we shall return to this question later. Modern Chinese collectors, we are told,[253]in recognition of these distinctions, classify Chün wares in two groups,tz´ŭ t´ai(porcelain body) andsha t´ai(sandy, or coarse–grained, body).
The Chün glazes are of the thick, opalescent kind which flows sluggishly and often stops short of the base in a thick, wavy roll or in large drops. On the upper edges of the ware they are thin and more or less transparent and colourless, but in the lower parts and the hollows in which the glaze collects in thick masses the depth and play of the colour are wonderful. These irregularities are specially noticeable on the coarse bodies, but even on the more refined specimens where the glaze has a smoother flow and more even distribution, the colour is never quite continuous or unbroken. In the opalescent depths of the glaze, bubbles, streaks, hair–lines, and often decided dappling are observed, and a scarcely perceptible crackle is usually present.[254]Some of these markings which variegate the surface of the Chün wares have been noticed by Chinese writers as "hare's fur marking" and "flames of blue."[255]Others, which appear to be irregular partings in the colour of the glaze, have been namedch´iu ying wênor "earthworm marks." These last rarely appear except on the finer type of Chün wares, and, like the "tear stains" on the Ting porcelains, they are regarded as signs of authenticity.
Flower pot of Chün Chou ware of the Sung Dynasty.
Grey porcellanous body; olive brown glaze under the base and the numeralshih(ten) incised. Height (without the wooden stand) 57/8inches.
Grey porcellanous body; olive brown glaze under the base and the numeralshih(ten) incised. Height (without the wooden stand) 57/8inches.
Rectangular pot on decrated stand with legsEumorfopoulos Collection.
Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Though the beautiful Chün wares of thetz´ŭ t´aigroup will always be rare and costly, Western collectors have been fortunate in securing a fair number of specimens, and a wonderful series of them was brought together in March, 1914, in the exhibition held by the Japan Society of New York. The forms of the flower pots vary considerably. Some have globular body with high spreading neck and wide mouth; others are bell–shaped like a deep cup; others are deep bowls with sides shaped in six or eight lobes like the petals of a flower; others are of quatrefoil form; and others of oblong rectangular shape with straight sides expanding towards the mouth. The saucers in which they stood are shallow bowls corresponding in form to the pots, but supported by three or four feet which are usually shaped like the conventional cloud scroll orju–ihead. They are otherwise without ornament, except in the case of the plain rounded saucers, which have two bands of raised studs or bosses, borrowed, no doubt, from a bronze vessel. These flower pots and saucers are almost invariably incised with a numeral under the base, and the fact that when the pots and saucers fit properly the numerals on each are found to tally seems to indicate they are, as suggested below, size numbers. But there is no doubt thatthe saucers or stands were often used separately as bulb bowls, like the vessels of similar shape which are found in celadon and other wares. Vases of the fine Chün ware are occasionally seen. There is a choice example in the Pierpont Morgan Collection, a small ovoid vase with flat base; and in the same collection is a low beaker–shaped vase with flaring neck and globular body strengthened with four square ribs in imitation of a bronze.[256]No numbers have appeared so far on any of these vases, nor, as far as I am aware, on any Sung Chün wares except the flower pots and saucers. I have, however, seen dishes on which a number has been subsequently cut, and numbers occur on later copies of the Chün types described below.
The numerals engraved under the base of the flower pots, saucers, and bulb bowls in the finer Chün wares range from 1–10. Their significance has given rise to some debate, but the most reasonable theory seems to be that they indicate the sizes of the different forms, No. 1 being the largest, though an extra large bulb bowl[257]in the Eumorfopoulos Collection has the additional markChinese characterta(great). This is the view which, I believe, is usually accepted in China, and Mr. Eumorfopoulos, who has an exceptional series of these wares, has applied the test to all he has seen, and has found the size theory to hold good in all but a few cases, for which an explanation may yet be found.[258]Another suggestion, supported by some American collectors of note, such as Mr. Freer and Mr. Peters, is that the numbers refer to the Imperial kilns, and that the pieces so marked are Imperial wares. Whether the former theory will continue to stand the test of application to every fresh specimen remains to be seen. With regard to the latter, I shall give reasons presently for doubting that any special Imperial patronage was extended to this kind of ware; and whatever truth there may be in this explanation of the numbers, it is highly improbable that any serious evidence can ever be produced to sustain it.
Chün Wares
Fig. 1.—Flower pot of six–foil form. Chün Chou ware of the Sung dynasty. The base is glazed with olive brown and incised with the numeral san (three). Height 73/4inches.Alexander Collection.Fig. 2.—Bowl of Chün type, with close–grained porcellanous body of yellowish colour. Sung dynasty. Diameter 53/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 1.—Flower pot of six–foil form. Chün Chou ware of the Sung dynasty. The base is glazed with olive brown and incised with the numeral san (three). Height 73/4inches.Alexander Collection.
Fig. 2.—Bowl of Chün type, with close–grained porcellanous body of yellowish colour. Sung dynasty. Diameter 53/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
It would be possible to construct a formidable list of the colours which appear in the Chün glazes, though many of the accidental effects would be very difficult to describe. On the edge and salient parts where the glaze is thin the colour is usually a transparent olive green which passes with the thickening of the glaze into a frothy grey shot with fine purple streaks. The grey sometimes remains thick and opaque, covering large areas, and it is liable to become frosted over with a dull film of crab–shell green. It is in this frosting and in the opaque curded grey that theV–shaped and serpentine partings known as "earthworm marks" most frequently occur; and sometimes a steel blue colour emerges in these partings and in small spots in the grey. For under the grey there seems to be always blue and red struggling upwards towards the surface. Hence the blue and lavender tinge which is so constant, thet´ien lanof the Chinese. But it is the red which almost always triumphs, emerging in fine streaks of purple, crimson or coral, like the colour lines in shot silk, or in strong flecks and dappling, completely overpowering the grey, which only remains on sufferance in a few fleecy clouds. The fine lines of colour are usually associated with a smooth silken surface to which a faint iridescence gives additional lustre; whereas the strongly dappled and mottled glaze is full of bubbles and pinholes (sometimes called "ant tracks" by the Chinese) which give the surface the seeded appearance of a strawberry. The red dappling is usually opaque and tending towards crimson or rouge red. It will be seen that the red varies in quantity from a mere tinge or flush to the intensity almost of a monochrome, and in tone from a pale or deep lavender to aubergine, plum purple, rose crimson, and rouge red. Making allowance for the capricious nature of Chinese colour words, these tints will be found to correspond with several of those indicated in the Yung Chêng list quoted on p. 119. On rare examples the grey and red colours are in abeyance, and the dominant tint is the transparent olive green, which is usually confined to the edges. This and the crab–shell green mentioned above supply the green shades which the Chinese writers include among the Chün colours.
But none of these glazes can with strict accuracy be described as monochromes "of uniformly pure colour" which thePo wu yao lanseems to have regarded as indispensable in the first–class Chün ware. In fact, it is difficult to conceive the possibility of a Chün glaze of perfectly uniform tint, without any trace of the perpetual war waged in the kiln between the red, grey, and blue elements. The nearest approach to a single colour is seen in someof the grey glazes, but here, too, the colour is only relatively pure; and I am convinced that the expression used by thePo wu yao lanis exaggerated, and the meaning is that the nearer the Chün colours approach to uniformity the more they were prized. It is true that several examples depicted in Hsiang's Album are monochrome purple, but I have no more confidence in the colouring of these illustrations than in the carved decoration which is indicated under their glaze, a phenomenon unrecorded in any other Chinese work, unexampled in any known specimen of the ware, and unlikely in view of the nature and the thickness of the Chün glaze itself.
It is clear, however, that an exaggerated mottling of the glaze and a confusion of many colours was viewed with disfavour by the old Chinese connoisseurs. These effects were explained in thePo wu yao lanas due to insufficient firing. Regarded in this light they were viewed with contempt by the earlier Chinese writers and labelled with mocking names, such aslo kan ma fei(mule's liver and horse's lung), pig's liver, and the like. In reality, they were the forerunners of the many delightfulflambéglazes which the eighteenth–century potters were able to produce at will when they had learnt that, like all the Chün colours except the brown glaze on the base, they could be obtained from oxide of copper under definite firing conditions. How far the old Chün effects were due to opalescence[259]it is impossible to say, but we know that all of them can be obtained, whether turquoise, green, crimson, or lavender grey, by that "Protean medium," oxide of copper, according as it is exposed in the firing to an oxidising or reducing atmosphere, conditions which could be regulated by the introduction of air on the one hand, or wood smoke on the other, at the right moment into the kiln.
It should be added that the finer Chün wares as seen in the flower pots and stands have an olive or yellowish brown glaze over the base, which in rare instances is overrun by frothy grey or lavender. Another constant feature of these pieces is a ring of small scars or "spur marks" on the base.
Plate 37.—Chün Chou Ware with porcellanous body (tz´ŭ t´ai). Sung dynasty.Fig. 1.—Flower Pot, with lavender grey glaze. Numeral mark,ssŭ(four). Diameter 83/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 2.—Bulb Bowl, of quatrefoil form, pale olive glaze clouded with opaque grey. Numeral mark,i(one). Length 10 inches.Freer Collection.
Plate 37.—Chün Chou Ware with porcellanous body (tz´ŭ t´ai). Sung dynasty.Fig. 1.—Flower Pot, with lavender grey glaze. Numeral mark,ssŭ(four). Diameter 83/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 2.—Bulb Bowl, of quatrefoil form, pale olive glaze clouded with opaque grey. Numeral mark,i(one). Length 10 inches.Freer Collection.
Plate 37.—Chün Chou Ware with porcellanous body (tz´ŭ t´ai). Sung dynasty.
Fig. 1.—Flower Pot, with lavender grey glaze. Numeral mark,ssŭ(four). Diameter 83/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 2.—Bulb Bowl, of quatrefoil form, pale olive glaze clouded with opaque grey. Numeral mark,i(one). Length 10 inches.Freer Collection.
The list of porcelains made at the Imperial factories about 1730[260]includes a series of imitations of Chün glazes from specimens sent from the palace collections, which serve at once to show the variety of Chün colours and the extent to which they were copied. The actual colours described are:
(1) Rose purple (mei kuei tzŭChinese characters).
(2) Cherry apple red (hai t´ang hungChinese characters).
(3) Purple of the aubergine flower (ch´ieh hua tzŭChinese characters).
(4) Plum bloom (mei tzŭ ch´ingChinese characters).
(5) Donkey's liver and horse's lung (lü kan ma feiChinese characters), with the addition of four kinds obtained from other sources.[261]
(6) Deep purple (shên tzŭChinese characters).
(7) "Millet colour" (mi sêChinese characters).
(8) Sky blue (t´ien lanChinese characters).
(9) Furnace transmutation orflambé(yao pien).
The potters of the Yung Chêng period (1723–35) succeeded wonderfully in their work of imitation, and existing examples bear witness to the beautiful colour effects which they obtained. The body of the ware, however, was, as a rule, a fine white porcelain,[262]which had to be carefully concealed by the brown glaze on the base. Many of the Yung Chêng specimens are marked with the seal mark of the period, and occasional instances occur in which this mark has been ground off in order to pass the piece as old. I have such a specimen, which was actually bought in the trade for Sung. It is a small dish, with beautiful turquoise green glaze in the centre and aflambéred on the sides. The place where the mark has been ground away when washed clean showed a fine white porcelain body. It is stated in theT´ao luthat the potters at Ching–tê Chên began to imitate the Chün wares towards the end of the Sung dynasty. No evidence is given to support the assertion, which may be merely a local tradition; but one certainly sees occasional specimens with a porcelain body masked by a dark brown clay dressing under the base, the glazes of which obviously imitate the Chün. There are, for instance, saucers and bowls of this kind with purple glaze finely shot with grey on the exterior and a lavender grey inside which appear to be older thanthe Yung Chêng period, though their shape precludes a greater age than the Ming dynasty.
There are, however, many other imitations of Chün ware in which the body is not of tell–tale white porcelain. ThePo wu yao lan, for instance, written at the end of the Ming dynasty, states that "in the present day among the recent wares all this type of ware (viz. the Chün type) has the sandy clay of Yi–hsing[263]for its body; the glaze is very similar to the old, and there are beautiful specimens, but they do not wear well." Yi–hsing is the place where the red stoneware tea pots, often called Chinese "buccaro," were made, and we know that a Yi–hsing potter, named Ou, was famous at the end of the Ming dynasty for his imitations of Ko, Kuan, and Chün glazes.[264]A bowl in the British Museum seems to answer the description of Ou's ware. It has a hard red stoneware body, and a thick undulating glaze of pale lavender blue colour, the comparative softness of which is attested by the well–worn surface of the interior.
The "Yung Chêng list" includes yet another type based upon Chün ware. It is called "Chün glaze of the muffle kiln," clearly a low–fired enamel rather than a glaze, whose colour is between the Kuangtung ware and the added[265]glaze of Yi–hsing, though in surface–markings, undulations and transmutation tints it surpasses them. This appears to be the "robin's egg" type of glaze,[266]to use the American collector's phrase, a thick, opaque enamel of pale greenish blue tint flecked with ruby red (see Plate 128).
The manufacture of glazes of the Chün type has continued at Yi–hsing since the days of Ou, and what is called Yi–hsing Chün is still manufactured in considerable quantity, the streaky lavender glazes being of no little merit. When applied to incense burners and vessels of archaic form, they are capable of being passed off as old, though the initiated will recognise them by their want of depth and transparency and by the peculiar satiny lustre of their surface.
Chün Wares
Fig. 1.—Bowl of eight–foil shape, with lobed sides, of Chün type. Sung dynasty. Close–grained porcellanous ware of yellowish colour. Height 17/8inches.Fig. 2.—Pomegranate–shaped water pot of "Soft Chün" ware. Probably Sung dynasty. Height 31/2inches.Alexander Collection.
Fig. 1.—Bowl of eight–foil shape, with lobed sides, of Chün type. Sung dynasty. Close–grained porcellanous ware of yellowish colour. Height 17/8inches.
Fig. 2.—Pomegranate–shaped water pot of "Soft Chün" ware. Probably Sung dynasty. Height 31/2inches.Alexander Collection.
Another ware which has a superficial resemblance to Chün yao has been made for a long period at the Kuangtung factories,[267]if it does not actually go back to Sung times. A typical specimen, shown in Plate 51, is a vase of baluster form with wide shoulders strengthened by a collar with foliate edge, and small neck and mouth, ornamented with a handsome lotus scroll in relief. The body is a buff stoneware, and the glaze is thick, opaque, and closely crackled, and of pale lavender grey warming into purple.
Glazes of this kind have been made at several potteries in Japan e.g. Hagi, Akahada, and Seto.[268]Besides such specimens as this, there are many of the streaky, mottled Canton stonewares which are remotely analogous to the variegated Chün wares. The glazes of this type are more fluescent than those described in the preceding paragraph and have greater transparency, and the intention of their makers to imitate Chün types is shown by incised numerals which are occasionally added under the base. They are known in China as Fat–shan Chün, from the locality in which they are made, and though some examples may go back to Ming times, the best may, as a rule, be ascribed to the eighteenth century and the indifferent specimens to the present day.
From this digression on Chün imitations to which the mention of Yi–hsing led us, we must return to the original wares. It has been said that Chinese connoisseurs recognise two groups of Chün ware, thetz´ŭ t´aiand thesha t´ai, and there is no doubt that the contrast between the body material of the two is very marked. In explanation of this the Chinese to–day allege[269]that the flower pots and stands were made of a tribute clay sent annually from the Ching–tê Chên district to the "Imperial kilns" at Chün Chou, and that the coarser articles were made of native clays. The story has the air of anex post factoexplanation, and it is open to many grave objections. In the first place it is nowhere mentioned in Chinese literature, and in the second place the Chün Chou kilns, so far from having been described as "Imperial" in the Sung dynasty, are entirely ignored by the earlier writers, and even in the late Ming works, where they are first mentioned, the Chün wares are reckoned as of secondary importance. Thirdly, there does not seem to have been any need to import kaolin, for Chün Chou was inone of the kaolin producing districts of China.[270]There are, moreover, many specimens of the Chün type which hold an intermediate position between the finer flower pots and the coarse "Yüan tz´ŭ" wares, and these have a decidedly porcellanous body, though inclined to be yellowish at the base rim. Some of these have glazes almost as smooth and even as the flower pots, and of a beautiful lavender grey colour with patches or large areas of aubergine or amethystine purple, which in rare cases covers the entire exterior of a bowl. In their finer types they are scarcely distinguishable from the specimens which we have tentatively classed as Kuan on p. 65, and in their coarser kinds they seem to belong to the so–called "Yüan tz´ŭ" which are discussed at the end of this chapter.
Meanwhile, we must consider a very distinctive group to which the termsha t´ai, in its sense of "sandy body," applies with particular exactitude. In the catalogue of the New York exhibition of March, 1914, I ventured to differentiate this type by the name of "soft Chün," which its general appearance seems to justify. It is well illustrated in Plates 38 and 39. The body is buff and varies in texture from stoneware to a comparatively soft earthenware not far removed in colour from that of delft or maiolica, though, like so many Chinese bodies, it has a tendency to assume a darker red brown tint where exposed at the foot rim. The glaze is unctuous and thick, but not opaque, often, indeed, showing considerable flow and transparency: it is opalescent, and at times almost crystalline, and endued with much play of colour. It varies from a light turquoise blue of great beauty to lavender and occasionally to a strong blue tint, and, as a rule, it is broken by one or more passages of crimson red or dull aubergine purple, sometimes in a single well–defined patch, sometimes in a few flecks or streaks, and sometimes in large irregular areas. This glaze usually covers the entire exterior and appears again under the base, leaving practically no body exposed except at the actual foot rim. It has been attributed to various factories. The pure turquoise specimens have even been called Ch´ai, and a little piece of this kind was figured by Cosmo Monkhouse[271]as Kuan ware. On the other hand, I am told[272]that it is widely known in China asMa chün,[273]and is usually thought to be of the Ming dynasty, but no reason is assigned for either the name or the date, and both seem to be based on traders' gossip to which no special importance need be attached. A fine vase of this kind in the British Museum has been much admired by Chinese connoisseurs, and they have, as a rule, pronounced it to be Sung. The important specimen (Plate 39) in the FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge, was obtained from a tomb near Nanking,[274]a circumstance which is in favour of an early origin. In other respects this class of ware seems to answer to the aubergine and "sky blue" Chün types described by Chinese writers, and I regard it as one of the Sung varieties of Chün Chou ware, with "yellow, sandy earthenware" body of which thePo wu yao lanmakes mention.[275]
Two examples of "Soft Chün" ware.
Fig. 1.—Vase of buff ware, burnt red at the foot rim, with thick, almost crystalline glaze. Found in a tomb near Nanking and given in 1896 to the FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge. Probably Sung dynasty. Height 81/8inches.Alexander Collection.Fig. 2.—Vase of yellowish ware with thick opalescent glaze. Yüan dynasty. Height 133/8inches.Alexander Collection.
Fig. 1.—Vase of buff ware, burnt red at the foot rim, with thick, almost crystalline glaze. Found in a tomb near Nanking and given in 1896 to the FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge. Probably Sung dynasty. Height 81/8inches.Alexander Collection.
Fig. 2.—Vase of yellowish ware with thick opalescent glaze. Yüan dynasty. Height 133/8inches.Alexander Collection.
That it continued to be made after the Sung period is practically certain, and there are specimens which one would unhesitatingly regard as Ming or Yüan from their form. But, on the other hand, the prevailing shapes are of the Sung kind, and we have very little to guide us in dealing with the various Chün types except the form and the quality of the ware. The "soft Chün" was very closely imitated at Yi–hsing on a yellowish body which resembles the original in colour, but is generally harder, with a thick unctuous glaze of somewhat crystalline texture and a turquoise lavender colour, with rather thin and feeble patches of dull crimson, which lack the spontaneous appearance of the originals. These Yi–hsing copies are often marked with an incised numeral like the Canton Chün.
With regard to the duration of the Chün Chou factories, the standard Chinese works on ceramics are curiously silent. They take no account of the ware after the Sung period, and leave us to infer that it either ceased to be made or ceased to be worthy of mention after that time. In two places only have I found any hint of its survival in later times. One is an incidental mention of Sung, Yuan, and Ming Chün wares in a modern work,[276]and the other is in the pottery (not the porcelain) section in the great K´ang Hsi Encyclopædia.[277]The latter passage is taken from the administrative records of the Ming dynasty, and contains two referencesto large supplies of vases (p´ingandt´an) and wine jars obtained from Chün Chou and Tz´ŭ Chou in the Hsüan Tê period (1426–1436) and in the year 1553 of the Chia Ching period. We further learn that in 1563 an Imperial edict abolished both the tax which had previously been levied on the Chün Chou wares and the subsidy which had to a great extent counterbalanced the tax. These documents prove beyond doubt that potteries of considerable size existed at Chün Chou in the Ming dynasty, though their mention in this particular context seems to imply that the ware was no longer ranked among the porcelains, and had apparently ceased to be regarded as an artistic production.
From this time onwards to the present day the ceramic history of this district is a blank, and we are unable to say whether the modern Yü Chou pottery is a continuation or only a revival of the ancient art of the place. A specimen of this modern ware in the Field Museum, Chicago, has close affinities with the "soft Chün." Its base shows a buff stoneware body washed over with dark brown clay, and the glaze is somewhat opalescent though thinner than the old glaze, and its colour is a light blue of a tint more grey than turquoise. Quantities of this modern Yü Chou ware are to be found in Peking, and occasionally it is passed off as old Chün, but no one with experience of the originals would be deceived by it.
Finally, there is the important group of wares obviously belonging to the Chün family but commonly described as Yüan tz´ŭ or ware of the Yüan dynasty (1280–1367), although no sanction for this name is found in the older Chinese books. The ware, however, is fairly common in the form of bowls, shallow dishes, and, more rarely, vases and incense burners. The bowls which are the most familiar examples are usually of conical form, with slightly contracted mouth and small foot, coated with thick fluescent glazes, which form in deep pools at the bottom within, and end outside in thick drops or a billowy line some distance above the base, leaving a liberal amount of the body material exposed to view. The body is of thesha t´aiclass and usually of coarse grain, varying from a dark iron grey to buff stoneware and soft brick red earthenware, though, as already noted, there are finer specimens which link it with thetz´ŭ t´aigroup. It is this roughness of substance which has caused the ware to be relatively little esteemed in China, for the glaze is often of singular beauty. The varieties in colour are innumerable and clearly due to the opalescence of the thick, bubbly glaze, combined with the ever–changing effects of copper oxide on a highly fired ware. Lavender grey, dove grey, brown, and grey green are conspicuous, but as the thickness of the glaze varies with its downward flow, so the colour changes in tone and intensity from a thin, almost colourless skin on the upper edges to deep pools of mingled tints where the glaze has collected in thick masses. It is usually streaky and shot with fine lines of colour, but sometimes there are large areas of misty grey or greenish brown tones too subtle for description. A section of these glazes will generally disclose the presence of red, and this red often bursts out on the surface in patches which contrast vividly with the surrounding tones. If the patches are large they will be found to shade off into green in the centre or at the edges. It should be added that crackle is almost always present, though it varies much in intensity and does not seem to have been intentional.
Plate 40.—Chün Chou Ware.Fig. 1.—Bulb Bowl, porcellanous ware with lavender grey glaze passing into mottled red outside. Numeral mark,i(one). Sung dynasty. Diameter 91/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 2.—Vase of dense reddish ware, opalescent glaze of pale misty lavender with passages of olive and three symmetrical splashes of purple with green centres. Sung or Yuan dynasty. Height 103/8inches.Peters Collection.
Plate 40.—Chün Chou Ware.Fig. 1.—Bulb Bowl, porcellanous ware with lavender grey glaze passing into mottled red outside. Numeral mark,i(one). Sung dynasty. Diameter 91/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.Fig. 2.—Vase of dense reddish ware, opalescent glaze of pale misty lavender with passages of olive and three symmetrical splashes of purple with green centres. Sung or Yuan dynasty. Height 103/8inches.Peters Collection.
Plate 40.—Chün Chou Ware.
Fig. 1.—Bulb Bowl, porcellanous ware with lavender grey glaze passing into mottled red outside. Numeral mark,i(one). Sung dynasty. Diameter 91/4inches.Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 2.—Vase of dense reddish ware, opalescent glaze of pale misty lavender with passages of olive and three symmetrical splashes of purple with green centres. Sung or Yuan dynasty. Height 103/8inches.Peters Collection.