Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/115

 Pong-yao, after the name of their maker. In the neighbourhood of Ching-tê-chên also, at Hu-tien-shi, there was a factory the productions of which are specially mentioned under the name of Hu-tien-yao. Specimens of this ware are to be found occasionally to-day. They owe their preservation to their durability rather than to their beauty. The pâte is thick and dense, without any of the delicacy of porcelain, and the glaze is muddy yellow, not lacking, however, in lustre or uniformity. The surface of these pieces is generally relieved by deeply incised designs of somewhat archaic character, figure subjects being most common. Some examples are preserved in Japanese collections, where they are known as Ningyo-de (figure-subject variety), in allusion to the nature of the incised designs.

Without dwelling further upon minor products of the Yuan period, which were simply imitations of antecedent types, attention may be at once directed to the ware regarded as so essentially representative of the dynasty by Chinese connoisseurs of the present day that they call it Yuan-tsü, or "Yuan porcelain." It is not, however, porcelain, but heavy stone-ware, having dense, fine pâte, gray or reddish gray, and wholly opaque. The beauty of the ware resides entirely in the glaze, which deserves admiration. The body colour is that peculiar delicate blue, aptly compared to moon-light, which has already been spoken of in connection with the Chün-yao of the Sung period, and in it are seen floating splashes or clouds of blood red. Sometimes the clair-de-lune surface is speckled with red, after the fashion of the Chun-yao, of which, indeed, the Yuan-tsü is evidently an off-shoot and for which some specimens of it may