Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/258

 CHINA

ably for that reason, as well as on account of the extremely perishable nature of porcelain thus deco- rated, specimens are exceedingly rare and highly prized. The design is generally of a formal charac- ter, as bands of diaper or star pattern ; but occasionally dragons or leaves and blossoms are thus treated. In America, porcelain with pierced ornamentation is commonly known as “ Grains-of-rice-ware.” In Japan it is called “‘ Hotaru-de,” or “ fire-fly style.” The precise date of its origin is uncertain, but there is every reason to conclude that it was not manufac- tured before the Kang-hsi era (1661-1722). Mr. A. W. Franks says that “‘in Persia, white bowls of a soft, gritty porcelain were made, which have rude decorations of the same nature, but there is no evi- dence to show in which country, China or Persia, such a mode of ornamentation originated.”’ Numer- ous specimens from the workshops of the nineteenth century are to be met with; but if the collector remembers to look always for a pure white, lustrous porcelain and accurately cut designs into which the transparent glaze is run with uniform precision, he is not likely to fall into error. ‘These features are in- variably absent in modern pieces, which show uneven- ness of surface and a distinctly marked tinge of green in the glaze of the pierced portions. In China this ware is called Yen-ching-tou-hwa.

Porcelain ornamented with white slip may be spoken of here as occupying an intermediate place between enamelled wares and monochromatic or poly- chromatic glazes. Chinese potters do not seem to - have practised this method largely. They employed it chiefly in conjunction with the brown or coffee- coloured glaze called Tsu-chin-se, the fond lacque of

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