Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/302

 CHINA

the specimens are perfectly plain, relying entirely on the charms of their glaze. Others have incised designs, generally very sketchy in character; and others, again, have decoration in high relief, such as branches of plum, dragons, phcenixes, and so forth. The last variety is the commonest and least valuable, though some pieces of it possess merit. Perhaps the most beautiful and rarest kind is that in which the usually faint pink of the glaze deepens into a distinct tone of rose. The engraved designs, though often indistinct, were never intended to be viewed by trans- mitted light, as was frequently the case with the hard-paste egg-shell porcelains of Ching-té-chén. Libation-cups, cylindrical vases, and tripod censers were favourite forms with the Té-hwa potters, but they enjoyed high reputation as modellers of figures of the goddess Kwan-yin and other Buddhist divinities, as well as of seals with handles shaped into the Dog of Fo, the Ky/n, and similar mythical monsters. In the Tao-/u it is said of the factory : — “ Most of the cups and bowls manufactured there have their edges slightly turned back. The ware is called Paz-tzu, or white porcelain. It has great lustre and polish, but is very thick. Some specimens, however, are thin. The statuettes of Buddha are extremely beautiful. It is at T@-hwa that we find at present the ware called Chien-yao, but it bears no resemblance to the ancient ware of the same name.” Caien-yao is, in fact, the name by which Ivory-white porcelain is known to- day in China. It will be remembered that the same term, Chien-yao, was originally applied to one of the most remarkable wares of the Sung Dynasty, the characteristic variety of which had lustrous black glaze with silver lines. Notwo keramic productions 272