Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/117

 Unfortunately, of such kilns few records have been preserved. Whatever their achievements, Ching-tê-chên eclipsed them sufficiently to become alone traditional. A book quoted in the Tao-lu says:—"The vases of Ching-tê-chên, made of plastic clay, are of perfect whiteness and without faults." And again:—"The white and the céladon vases used in the provinces of Chêkiang, of Hupeh, of Szechuen, and of Kwangtung, come from the Ching-tê-chên factories." Pieces destined for the Court were distinguished as Shu-fu-yao, or "ware for the use of the palace." They were sometimes marked Shu-fu. The author of the Tao-lu speaks of these wares as the product of private workshops, but his evident meaning is that their manufacture was not confined to Government kilns. The latter were not constantly employed in supplying the wants of the palace. Often a money tax was levied from them in lieu of keramic services, and at such times they naturally devoted themselves to working for the ordinary market. Thence, doubtless, arose the habit of distinguishing between wares intended for sale and those for imperial use. The chief variety of this Shu-fu-yao was white. It was in fact an imitation of the celebrated Ting-yao of the preceding dynasty. H'siang, in his "Illustrated Catalogue," shows a specimen of the ware. He describes it as a small bottle-shaped vase, decorated with dragons in the midst of clouds and having lion's-head handles, all faintly engraved in the paste, under a white glaze. He then goes on to say:—"The porcelain of our own (Ming) dynasty, of the reigns of Yung-lo and Hsuan-te, decorated with patterns engraved under a white glaze, was made after the imperial porcelain. The Shu-fu porcelain itself was copied from the Ting