[276] Père d’Entrecolles (second letter, section xii.) points out that the glaze used for the blue and white was considerably softer than that of the ordinary ware, and was fired in the more temperate parts of the kiln. The softening ingredient (which consisted chiefly of the ashes of a certain wood and lime burnt together) was added to the glaze material (pai yu) in a proportion of 1 to 7 for the blue and white as against 1 to 13 for the ordinary ware.
[277] On some of the large saucer-shaped dishes of this period the foot rim is unusually broad and channelled with a deep groove.
[278] See Bushell, T’ao shuo, op. cit., p. 192. It is tolerably clear that d’Entrecolles in this passage is giving a verbatim rendering of a Chinese description. The “flowers” is, no doubt, hua, and might be rendered “decoration” in the general sense, and the “water and the mountains” is, no doubt, shan shui, the current phrase for “landscape.”
[280] “Flaming silver candle lighting up rosy beauty,” a Ch’êng Hua design (see p. 25) but often found in K’ang Hsi porcelain, which usually has, by the way, the Ch’êng Hua mark to keep up the associations.
[281] For further notes on design, see chap. xvii.
[282] There is a small collection of these porcelains salved from the sea and presented to the British Museum by H. Adams in 1853; but there is no evidence to show which, if any, were on board the Haarlem.
[283] This design was copied on early Worcester blue and white porcelain.
[284] In spite of Bushell’s translation of a Ming passage which would lead one to think otherwise; see p. 40.
[286] There are frequent allusions to the European trade in the letters of Père d’Entrecolles. In the first letter (Bushell, T’ao shuo, p. 191) a reference is made among moulded porcelains to “celles qui sont d’une figure bisarre, comme les animaux, les grotesques, les Idoles, les bustes que les Europeans ordonnent.” On p. 193: “Pour ce qui est des couleurs de la porcelaine, il y en a de toutes les sortes. On n’en voit gueres en Europe que de celle qui est d’un bleu vif sur un fond blanc. Je crois pourtant que nos Marchands y en ont apporté d’autres.” On p. 202, to explain the high price of the Chinese porcelain in Europe, we are told that for the porcelain for Europe new models, often very strange and difficult to manufacture, are constantly demanded, and as the porcelain was rejected for the smallest defect, these pieces were left on the potter’s hands, and, being un-Chinese in taste, were quite unsaleable. Naturally the potter demanded a high price for the successful pieces to cover his loss on the rejected.
On the other hand, we are told (p. 204) that the mandarins, recognising the inventive genius of the Europeans, sometimes asked him (d’Entrecolles) to procure new and curious designs, in order that they might have novelties to offer to the Emperor. But his converts entreated him not to get these designs, which were often very difficult to execute and led to all manner of ill-treatment of the unfortunate workmen.
On the same page we are told that the European merchants ordered large plaques for inlaying in furniture, but that the potters found it impossible to make any plaque larger than about a foot square. In the second letter (section x.), however, we learn that “this year (1722) they had accepted orders for designs which had hitherto been considered impossible, viz. for urns (urnes) 3 feet and more high, with a cover which rose in pyramidal form to an additional foot. They were made in three pieces, so skilfully joined that the seams were not visible, and out of twenty-five made only eight had been successful. These objects were ordered by the Canton merchants, who deal with the Europeans; for in China people are not interested in porcelain which entails such great cost.”
[287] This defect is noticed by Père d’Entrecolles, who mentions another remedy used by the Chinese potters. They applied, he tells us in section ii. of the second letter, a preparation of bamboo ashes mixed with glazing material to the edges of the plate before the glazing proper. This was supposed to have the desired effect without impairing the whiteness of the porcelain.
[289] Second letter, section iv.
[290] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 320.
[292] The use of crackle glaze over blue (porcelaine toute azurée) is noted by Père d’Entrecolles in his first letter. See Bushell, op. cit., p. 195.
[293] See Bushell, T’ao shuo, p. 197.
[294] A somewhat similar but clumsier decoration was the “scratched blue” of the Staffordshire salt glaze made about 1750.
[295] On exceptional examples the red seems to have turned almost black, and in some cases it seems to have penetrated the glaze and turned brown.
[296] A similar combination of coloured glazes was effectively used on the moulded porcelains of the Japanese Hirado factory.
[298] Loc. cit., second letter, section xiv.
[299] Apparently huang lü huan, yellow and green (?) circles. But without the Chinese characters it is impossible to say which huan is intended. The description seems to apply to the “tiger skin” ware, where yellow, green and aubergine glazes have been applied in large patches. Bushell (O. C. A., p. 331) makes this expression refer to the specimens with engraved designs in colour contrasting with the surrounding ground, such as Fig. 1 of Plate 79; but this does not seem to suit the word huan.
[300] Loc. cit., section xiv.
[302] The same technique is employed on some of the Japanese Kaga wares.
[303] Apparently derived from manganese.
[305] Another favourite form is the ovoid beaker (see Plate 101), which is sometimes called the yen yen vase, apparently from yen, beautiful. But I only have this name on hearsay, and it is perhaps merely a trader’s term.
[307] A lotus-shaped set in the Salting collection numbers thirteen sections.
[308] The underglaze blue almost invariably suffered in the subsequent firings which were necessary for the enamels, and, as we shall see, a different kind of glaze was used on the pure enamelled ware and on the blue and white.
[309] Apart from the cases in which the enamel colours were added to faulty specimens of blue and white to conceal defects.
[311] Op. cit., section vi. “Il n’y a, dit on, que vingt ans ou environ qu’on a trouvé le secret de peindre avec le tsoui ou en violet et de dorer la porcelaine.” As far as the gilding is concerned, this statement is many centuries wrong. The tsoui is no doubt the ts’ui, which is very vaguely described in section xii. (under the name tsiu) of the same letter. Here it is stated to have been compounded of a kind of stone, but the description of its treatment clearly shows that the material was really a coloured glass, which is, in fact, the basis of the violet blue enamel.
[312] Bushell, op. cit., p. 193.
[313] Loc. cit., p. 195.
[314] See d’Entrecolles, second letter, section xii.
[316] Catalogue of the 1910 exhibition, No. 84.
[317] These seals are usually difficult to decipher, and the one in question might be read shui shih chü (water and rock dwelling). This would be a matter of small importance did not the signature read by Bushell as wan shih chü occur in the Pierpont Morgan Collection. Other instances in the same collection are chu chü (bamboo retreat), shih chü (rock retreat), and chu shih chü (red rock retreat). The signature chu chü also occurs on a dish in the Dresden collection.
[321] Similar bottles in the Drucker Collection have the “G” mark.
[322] Fang tung yang, “imitating the Eastern Sea” (i.e. Japan).
[323] The first specimens (according to Bushell, O. C. A., p. 309) to reach America came from the collection of the Prince of Yi, whose line was founded by the thirteenth son of the Emperor K’ang Hsi.
[324] The general reader will probably not be much concerned as to whether the peach bloom was produced by oxide of copper or by some other process. Having learnt the outward signs of the glaze, he will take the inner meaning of it for granted. Others, however, will be interested to know that practically all the features of the peach bloom glaze, the pink colour, the green ground and the russet brown spots can be produced by chrome tin fired at a high temperature. I have seen examples of these chrome tin pinks made by Mr. Mott at Doulton’s, which exhibit practically all the peculiarities of the Chinese peach bloom. It does not, of course, follow that the Chinese used the same methods or even had any knowledge of chrome tin. They may have arrived at the same results by entirely different methods, and the peach bloom tints developed on some of the painted underglaze copper reds point to the one which is generally believed to have been used; but the difference between these and the fully developed peach bloom is considerable, and though we have no definite evidence one way or the other, the possibilities of chrome tin cannot be overlooked.
[325] The form of this water pot is known (according to Bushell, O. C. A., p. 318) as the T’ai-po tsun, because it was designed after the traditional shape of the wine jar of Li T’ai-po, the celebrated T’ang poet. In its complete state it has a short neck with slightly spreading mouth.
[328] i.e. lead glass.
[329] Chi, lit. sky-clearing, and chi ch’ing might be rendered “blue of the sky after rain.”
[330] There are some bowls and bottles in the Dresden collection with glazes of a pale luminous blue which are hard to parallel elsewhere.
[331] Loc. cit., section xvii. In another place (section iii.) we are told how the Chinese surrounded the ware with paper during the blowing operation, so as to catch and save all the precious material which fell wide of the porcelain.
[332] I cannot recall any example of the powder blue crackle which is here described.
[333] See Julien, p. 107.
[334] P. 170.
[335] Second letter, section xvii.
[336] The word “mazarine” has become naturalised in the English language. Goldsmith spoke of “gowns of mazarine blue edged with fur”; and “Ingoldsby” says the sky was “bright mazarine.” See R. L. Hobson, Worcester Porcelain, p. 101.
[339] These glazes generally have the appearance of being in two coats, and in some cases there actually seem to be two layers of crackle.
[341] i.e. the strong heavy types. Chinese literature speaks of thinner and more refined celadons of the Sung period, but few of these have come down to our day.
[343] Second letter, section vii.
[344] The T’ao lu (see Julien, p. 213) gives this recipe for the kind of celadon known as Tung ch’ing, and a similar prescription with a small percentage of blue added for the variety known as Lung-ch’üan.
[345] See Bushell, O. C. A., p. 316.
[347] There are some fine examples of orange yellow monochrome in the Peters Collection in New York. The colour was also used with success in the Ch’ien Lung period, the mark of which reign occurs on a good example in the Peters Collection.
[348] Bushell, O. C. A., Plates xxv. and lxxxiii.
[349] See Monkhouse, op. cit., fig. 22. The crackle on the mustard yellow glaze is usually small, but there is a fine specimen in the Peters Collection with large even crackle. Sometimes this yellow has a greenish tinge, and in a few instances it is combined with crackled green glaze.
[350] Second letter, section vi.
[351] See Père d’Entrecolles, second letter, section xiii.: “L’argent sur le vernis tse kin (tzŭ chin) a beaucoup d’éclat.”
[353] The blue of the cobalt is sometimes clearly visible in the fracture of the glaze; and in other cases the black has a decided tinge of brown.
[354] d’Entrecolles, loc. cit., section viii.: “Le noir éclatant ou le noir de miroir appellé ou kim” (wu chin).
[355] d’Entrecolles declares that it was the result of many experiments, apparently in his own time. See p. 194.
[356] Second letter, section xi.
[357] See M. Seymour de Ricci in the introduction to the Catalogue of a Collection of Mounted Porcelain belonging to E. M. Hodgkins, Paris, 1911, where much interesting information has been collected on the subject of French mounts and their designers. He quotes also from the Livre-journal de Lazare Duvaux marchand-bijoutier ordinaire du Roy (1748–1758), which includes a list of objects mounted for Madame de Pompadour and others, giving the nature of the wares and the cost of the work.
[358] Persian, Indian, and occasionally even Chinese metal mounts are found on porcelain; and Mr. S. E. Kennedy has a fine enamelled vase of the K’ang Hsi period with spirited dragon handles of old Chinese bronze.
[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.
[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] . 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.
[373] i.e. porcelain services painted with European coats of arms.
[375] See p. 225, Nos. 41 and 42.
[376] Cf. p. 25, where “high-flaming silver candle lighting up rosy beauty” is explained in this sense among the Ch’êng Hua designs.
[378] See p. 225, No. 45.
[379] See p. 224, Nos. 19 and 20.
[380] A beautiful example of a “stem-cup” in the Eumorfopoulos Collection, with three fishes on the exterior in underglaze red of brilliant quality and the Hsüan Tê mark inside the bowl, probably belongs to this class.
[382] See p. 225, No. 30.
[383] See p. 224, No. 26.
[384] See Catalogue 300–303. “On each is a miniature group of the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove with an attendant bringing a jar of wine and flowers. The porcelain is so thin that the design, with all the details of colour, can be distinctly perceived from the inside.” It is only right to say that their learned possessor has catalogued them as genuine examples of the Ch’êng Hua period.
[385] See p. 224, No. 25.
[387] See p. 224, No. 27.
[388] See p. 225, No. 36.
[389] T’ao shuo, bk. i., fol. 15 verso.
[390] See p. 225, No. 49. Fo-lang, fa-lang, fu-lang, and fa-lan are used indiscriminately by the Chinese in the sense of enamels on metal.
[391] In the T’ao lu, under the heading Yang tz’ŭ. It is a curious paradox that the Chinese called famille rose porcelain yang ts’ai (foreign colours) and the Canton enamels yang tz’ŭ (foreign porcelain). See Burlington Magazine, December, 1912, “Note on Canton Enamels.”
[392] See pp. 224–226, Nos. 29, 37, 38, 49, 51, 53, and 54.
[393] Apart from the rose pinks which are derived from purple of cassius, i.e. precipitate of gold, and the opaque white derived from arsenic, the colouring agents of the famille rose enamels are essentially the same as those of the famille verte. The colours themselves were brought to Ching-tê Chên in the form of lumps of coloured glass prepared at the Shantung glass works. These lumps were ground to a fine powder and mixed with a little white lead, and in some cases with sand (apparently potash was also used in some cases to modify the tones), and the powder was worked up for the painter’s use with turpentine, weak glue, or even with water. Cobaltiferous ore of manganese, oxide of copper, iron peroxide, and antimony were still the main colouring agents. The first produced the various shades of blue, violet, purple, and black; the second, the various greens; the third, coral or brick red; and the fourth, yellow of various shades. A little iron in the yellow gave the colour an orange tone.
The modifications of the green are more numerous. The pure binoxide of copper produced the shade used for distant mountains (shan lü), which could be converted into turquoise by the admixture of white. The ordinary leaf green was darkened by strengthening the lead element in the flux and made bluer by the introduction of potash in the mixture. Combined with yellow it gave an opaque yellowish green colour known as ku lü (ancient green); and a very pale greenish white, the “moon white” of the enameller, was made by a tinge of green added to the arsenious white.
The carmine and crimson rose tints derived from the glass tinted with precipitate of gold, which was known as yen chih hung (rouge red), were modified with white to produce the fên hung or pale pink; and the same carmine was combined with white and deep blue to make the amaranth or blue lotus (ch’ing lien) colour.
The ordinary brick red (the ta hung or mo hung) was derived from peroxide of iron mixed with a little glue to make it adhere, but depending on the glaze for any vitrification it could obtain. The addition of a plumbo-alcaline flux produced the more brilliant and glossy red of coral tint known as tsao’rh hung (jujube red).
The dry, dull black derived from cobaltiferous manganese was converted into a glossy enamel by mixing with green. This is the famille rose black as distinct from the black of the famille verte, which was formed by a layer of green washed over a layer of dull black on the porcelain itself.
There are, besides, numerous other shades, such as lavender, French grey, etc., obtained by cunning mixtures, and all these enamels were capable of use as monochromes in place of coloured glazes as well as for brushwork.
[394] Bushell, Chinese Art, vol. ii., fig. 61.
[395] Histoire de la porcelaine, pt. viii., fig. 3.