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 CHINA

Chapter X

MONOCHROMATIC WARES (Continued)

RED

FTER céladon and soft-paste white porce-

lain, the choicest of all monochromes are

A red. In European and American estima-

tion, indeed, this order is reversed; red

glazes are placed in the very highest rank, and it is

not to be denied that there are excellent grounds for

the verdict, since among the choice reds of China are

to be found the grandest and most decorative colours

ever produced in the pottery furnace. Many Chinese

collectors also hold reds in superlative esteem, and grudge no price to acquire a fine specimen.

There is much uncertainty with regard to the time when red glazes were first produced. The Tao-/u, quoting from a memoir called the Chiang-kz, says : — “‘ Porcelain vases of Ching-té-chén were named o-yu, that is to say, ‘ Jade of Jo-chou.’ They could hold their own against the true 77mg vases in red porcelain.”’ To this quotation the author of the Tao-/u adds the remark : — “It is thus seen that among 77mg _porce- lains some were red. Brown and black Timgs were also made, but the red 77mg (Hung-ting) and the white were alone esteemed at the time (Sug dynasty).” The author, it will be observed, had no other evidence

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