Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/120



HE history of Chinese keramics under the Sui, Tang, Sung, and Yuan dynasties—a period of eight centuries (581—1367)—indicates that to produce a single-coloured or white glaze was the potter's first aim. He understood and largely practised the device of ornamenting the surface of a piece with designs incised or in relief, to which the comparative thickness or thinness of the superincumbent glaze imparted an appearance of dark or light colour. But the glaze was everything. On its lustre, solidity, and tone the whole beauty of the specimen depended. To make it perfectly colourless and translucid, a mere agent for preserving and revealing decoration beneath, did not find a place among his methods, and, indeed, was not likely to find a place in the case of most of his pâtes. The dense, grey clay of the old céladons and their contemporary monochromes could scarcely serve a better purpose than that of carrying a rich, opaque or semi-opaque glaze, brilliant and yet restful. It has been seen that the manufacture of finer pâtes was within his competence. The Ting-yao proves this. Its tender, fine and pure biscuit indicated a high degree of