Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/289

 MONOCHROMATIC GLAZES

the biscuit so that the edges of the pattern are de- pressed and the centre appears to be in relief. This ware is a great favourite with Japanese collectors who call it Nyo-fu, according to their pronunciation of Kiang-nan, the province where it was manufactured. Like the Timg-yao, it never has any marks of date or factory.

It is necessary now to turn for a moment to the Kiang-nan workshops. The Yao-/u states that of the six factories existing at an early period in the province of Kiang-nan, five were devoted to the manufacture of white porcelain. Of these the most important was at Su-chou. It had its origin during the Sung dynasty and continued active until the end of the sev- enteenth century, from which time its products ceased to deserve a place among art objects. Its soft-paste porcelain, according to the Tao-/u, resembled the cel- ebrated 7img-yao, and was in large demand, especially when genuine TJing-yao of Pechili began to grow scarce. Su-chou pieces then passed for true 7img-yao, but the author of the Tao-/u pronounces them to have been decidedly inferior. The second factory, at Sz’- chou, also began to work under the Sung, and pro- duced soft-paste porcelain of the Timg-yao type, its quality, however, relegating it to a lower rank than that assigned to the ware of Su-chou. The third fac- tory was at Hsuan-chou. It worked throughout the Yuan and Ming dynasties, producing soft-paste white porcelain of considerable merit. The fourth factory is that at which the potter Péng (usde Ting-yao, Chap- ter III.) worked during the Yuan dynasty. Its out- come is said to have supported comparison with true Ting-yao, except that the glaze lacked lustre. Indeed, good specimens of Péng-yao are described as bearing

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