Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/282

 CHINA

appellation of Chzn-to-tai, or true (chin) To-tai. This species was originally produced in the Imperial Fac- tory during the Chéng-hwa era (1465-1487), and subsequently in private workshops throughout the Lung-ching (1567-1572) and Wan-h (1573-1619) eras. During the two last reigns the porcelains most esteemed were those of the Yan-pi, or ‘egg-shell,’ variety, which were of uniform tint, a pure white. These did not at all resemble the porcelains of later times of which the majority had decoration in blue sous couverte. The cups of pure tone and brilliant white of the Lung-ching and Wan-h eras were infi- nitely superior in thinness and beauty to those deco- rated with blue.’ It would appear from this extract that the manufacture of very thin hard-paste porcelain dates from a period fifty years later than the Yung-/o era. But there is evidence to show that the author of the Tao-/u erred in this matter. He wrote, it will be remembered, in 1815, whereas H’siang, otherwise a more trustworthy authority, compiled his illustrated catalogue nearly two hundred and fifty years earlier. Hsiang in fact lived less than a century after the Chéng-hwa era, while Ching was separated from that era by three centuries and a half. Now H’siang in his Catalogue illustrates a cup of white Yung-/o porcelain, appending to the picture a description that the ware was as thin as paper and that it was called To-taz. He adds that several similar cups were extant in his time (second half of sixteenth century), and that they were highly appreciated by collectors of taste. By Chinese connoisseurs of the present day also it is unanimously held that the true To-tai-kz dates from the Yung-/o era. Bowls of the ware are preserved by them with the greatest care. They have a peculiar shape, the

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