PLATE 120
Covered Jar or potiche painted in famille rose or “foreign colours” (yang ts’ai) with baskets of flowers: deep borders of ruby red enamel broken by small panels and floral designs. On the cover is a lion coloured with enamels on the biscuit. From a set of five vases and beakers in the collection of Lady Wantage. Late Yung Chêng period (1723–1735)
Height 34 inches.
The precise nature of the Sung mi sê which is included among the Ko yao, Chün yao and Hsiang-hu wares reproduced by the Yung Chêng potters according to the Imperial list is a little doubtful. Possibly one type was illustrated by the “shallow bowl with spout: grey stoneware with opaque glaze of pale sulphur yellow,” which Mr. Alexander exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1910.[416] Another is indicated in the Pierpont Morgan collection[417] in a “shallow bowl with greenish yellow crackled glaze,” apparently of the type found occasionally in Borneo, where such wares are still treasured by the Dyaks. The vase in the Victoria and Albert Museum which is figured by Monkhouse (op. cit., Fig. 22) as a specimen of old mi sê, appears for reasons already given[418] to be a Yung Chêng reproduction of this type. The “mustard yellow” which Bushell included under the description mi sê is an opaque crackled enamel which can hardly have originated before the Yung Chêng period, and it is possible that it resulted from an attempt to reproduce the old Sung mi sê crackle.
The following list of the decorations used at the Imperial factory was compiled by Hsieh Min, the governor of the province of Kiangsi from 1729 to 1734.[419] It was translated by Bushell in his Oriental Ceramic Art; but reference has been made to it so often in these pages, and its importance is so obvious, that no apology is necessary for giving it in full. The following version is taken from the Chiang hsi t’ung chih, bk. 93, fols. 11 to 13, and in most cases Bushell’s rendering has been followed:—
1. Glazes of the Ta Kuan period (i.e. Sung Kuan yao) on an “iron” body, including moon white (yüeh pai), pale blue or green (fên ch’ing) and deep green (ta lü).**
2. Ko glaze on an “iron” body, including millet colour (mi sê) and fên ch’ing.**
3. Ju glaze without crackle on a “copper” body: the glaze colours copied from a cat’s food basin of the Sung dynasty, and a dish for washing brushes moulded with a human face.
4. Ju glaze with fish-roe crackle on a “copper” body.**
5. White Ting glaze. Only the fên Ting was copied, and not the t’u Ting.
6. Chün glazes. Nine varieties are given, of which five were copied from old palace pieces and four from newly acquired specimens; see p. 000.
7. Reproductions of the chi hung red of the Hsüan Té period: including fresh red (hsien hung) and ruby red (pao shih hung).
8. Reproductions of the deep violet blue (chi ch’ing) of the Hsüan Tê period. This glaze is deep and reddish (nêng hung), and has orange peel markings and palm eyes.
9. Reproductions of the glazes of the Imperial factory: including eel yellow (shan yü huang), snake-skin green (shê p’i lü), and spotted yellow (huang pan tien).
10. Lung-ch’üan glazes: including pale and dark shades.
11. Tung-ch’ing glazes: including pale and dark, shades.
12. Reproductions of the Sung millet-coloured (mi sê) glaze: copied in form and colour from the fragmentary wares dug up at Hsiang Hu (q.v.).
13. Sung pale green (fên ch’ing) glaze: copied from wares found at the same time as the last.
14. Reproduction of “oil green” (yu lü) glaze: “copied from an old transmutation (yao pien) ware like green jade (pi yü), with brilliant colour broken by variegated passages and of antique elegance.”
15. The Chün glaze of the muffle stove (lu chün). “The colour is between that of the Kuangtung wares and the Yi-hsing applied glaze[420]; and in the ornamental markings (hua wên) and the transmutation tints of the flowing glaze it surpasses them.”
16. Ou’s glazes, with red and blue markings.
17. Blue mottled (ch’ing tien) glazes: copied from old Kuang yao.
18. Moon white (yüeh pai) glazes. “The colour somewhat resembles the Ta Kuan glaze, but the body of the ware is white. The glaze is without crackle, and there are two shades—pale and dark.”
19. Reproductions of the ruby red (pao shao) of Hsüan Té: in decoration consisting of (1) three fishes, (2) three fruits, (3) three funguses, or (4) the five Happinesses (symbolised by five bats).
20. Reproductions of the Lung-ch’üan glaze with ruby red decoration of the types just enumerated. “This is a new style of the reigning dynasty.”
21. Turquoise (fei ts’ui) glazes. Copying three sorts, (1) pure turquoise, (2) blue flecked, and (3) gold flecked (chin tien).[421]
22. Soufflé red (ch’ui hung) glaze.
23. Soufflé blue (ch’ui ch’ing) glaze.
24. Reproductions of Yung Lo porcelain: eggshell (t’o t’ai), pure white with engraved (chui) or embossed (kung) designs.
25. Copies of Wan Li and Chêng Tê enamelled (wu ts’ai) porcelain.
26. Copies of Ch’èng Hua enamelled (wu ts’ai) porcelain.
27. Porcelain with ornament in Hsüan Tê style in a yellow ground.
28. Cloisonné blue (fa ch’ing) glaze.[422] “This glaze is the result of recent attempts to match this colour (i.e. the deep blue of the cloisonné enamels). As compared with the deep and reddish chi ch’ing, it is darker and more vividly blue (ts’ui), and it has no orange peel or palm eye markings.”
29. Reproductions of European wares with lifelike designs carved and engraved. “Sets of the five sacrificial utensils, dishes, plates, vases, and boxes and the like are also decorated with coloured pictures in European style.”
Plate 121.—Two Beakers and a Jar from sets of five, famille rose enamels. Late Yung Chêng Porcelain.
Fig. 1.—Beaker with “harlequin” ground. Height 15¾ inches. S. E. Kennedy Collection.
Fig. 2.—Jar with dark blue glaze gilt and leaf-shaped reserves. Height 21½ inches. Burdett-Coutts Collection.
Fig. 3.—Beaker with fan and picture-scroll panels, etc., in a deep ruby pink ground. Height 14½ inches. Wantage Collection.
30. Reproductions of wares with incised green decoration in a yellow glaze (chiao huang).
31. Reproductions of yellow-glazed wares: including plain and with incised ornament.
32. Reproductions of purple brown (tzŭ) glazed wares: including plain and with incised ornament.
33. Porcelain with engraved ornament: including all kinds of glazes.
34. Porcelain with embossed (tui) ornament: including all kinds of glazes.
35. Painted red (mo[423] hung): copying old specimens.
36. Red decoration (ts’ai hung): copying old specimens.
37. Porcelain in yellow after the European style.[424]
38. Porcelain in purple brown (tzŭ) after the European style.
39. Silvered (mo yin) porcelain.
40. Porcelain painted in ink (shui mo): see p. 214.
41. Reproductions of the pure white (t’ien pai)[425] porcelain of the Hsüan Tê period: including a variety of wares thick and thin, large and small.
42. Reproductions of Chia Ching wares with blue designs.
43. Reproductions of Ch’êng Hua pale painted (tan miao) blue designs.
44. Millet colour (mi sê) glazes. “Differing from the Sung millet colour.” In two shades, dark and light.
45. Porcelain with red in the glaze (yu li hung): including (1) painted designs exclusively in red, (2) the combination of blue foliage and red flowers.[426]
46. Reproductions of lustrous brown (tzŭ chin) glaze: including two varieties, brown and yellow.
47. Porcelains with yellow glaze (chiao huang) decorated in enamels (wu ts’ai). “This is the result of recent experiments.”
48. Reproductions of green-glazed porcelain: including that with plain ground and with engraved ornament.
49. Wares with foreign colours (yang ts’ai). “In the new copies of the Western style of painting in enamels (fa-lang) the landscapes and figure scenes, the flowering plants and birds are without exception of supernatural beauty and finish.”[427]
50. Porcelain with embossed ornament (kung hua): including all kinds of glazes.
51. Porcelain with European (hsi yang) red colour.
52. Reproductions of wu chin (mirror black) glazes: including those with black ground and white designs and those with black ground and gilding.
53. Porcelain with European green colour.
54. European wu chin (mirror black) wares.
55. Gilt (mo chin) porcelain: copying the Japanese.
56. Gilt (miao chin)[428] porcelain: copying the Japanese.
57. Silvered (miao yin) porcelain: copying the Japanese.
58. Large jars (ta kang) with Imperial factory (ch’ang kuan) glazes. “Dimensions: diameter, at the mouth, 3 ft. 4 or 5 in. to 4 ft.; height, 1 ft. 7 or 8 in. to 2 ft. Glaze colours, (1) eel yellow, (2) cucumber (kua p’i) green, and (3) yellow and green mottled (huang lü tien).”
This last item, which is not included in Bushell’s list, appears to be almost a repetition of No. 9, with slightly different phrasing. Huang lü tien, which is used instead of the difficult phrase huang pan tien, may perhaps be taken as a gloss on the latter, indicating that the spots in the mottled yellow were green. In this case it would appear that the “spotted yellow” was a sort of tiger skin glaze, consisting of dabs of green and yellow (and perhaps aubergine as well). Bushell interpreted it in this sense.