Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/291

 MONOCHROMATIC GLAZES

limits of strict accuracy permitted. It will be well, therefore, for the collector to confine the appella- tion to specimens having soft pate, thin biscuit, rich but not brilliant glaze of creamy white or slightly buff tinge, and ornamentation incised or in relief. He may further take it for granted that though small examples— round plates or pyramidal bowls — of early Timg-yao may be found at rare intervals, large pieces are practically non-existent. When there is question of the latter, they may be unhesitatingly re- ferred either to the later Ching-té-chén potters, or to the factories of Kiang-nan, Kiang-si, or Kwan-tung. The Kwan-tung pieces, now extant, are all compara- tively heavy and coarse; Chinese virtuosi place them in the Tu-timg (Ting pottery) rank. The character- istic type is a large vase or ewer, decorated with a scroll of lotus or peony in high relief, and having paint-like creamy glaze of varying lustre and uneven thickness, its buff colour often showing tinges of blue. Crackle, though not an essential feature, exists in the great majority of cases and is usually large and irreg- ular. The biscuit is close, grey stone-ware, too thick and heavy to be properly classed with péte tendre, but not infrequently approaching that type, especially in well manipulated examples. Among the early speci- mens of Kwang-yao there were doubtless many that deserve to be spoken of in higher terms. But if they survive they are no longer taken account of by con- noisseurs. On the other hand, the old soft-paste porcelains of Kiang-nan stand on a high plane of technical skill. The variety spoken of above — that known in Japan as Nyo-ju—with its oily, lustrous glaze, thin péte, fine crackle, designs in bas-relief, and warm greyish buff colour, is very charming. Another 261