Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/310

 CHINA

clouds, with the beautiful c/azr-de-/une glaze for which the epoch was famous.

Not until the Ming dynasty is the student unques- tionably confronted with the grand, dazzling reds that subsequently became so priceless in the eyes of Chi- nese virtuosi. Among the porcelains of the Hsuan-¢é era (1426-1435) the Tao-/u says that vases of rouge vif were classed as ‘‘ precious,’ and that they were glossy, solid, and durable. ‘The same book quotes this passage from another work: ‘In the Hsuan-¢é period there were manufactured at the Imperial workshop cups of the red called CAz-hung, having handles shaped like fishes. To produce this red the potters mixed with the glaze the powder of a precious red stone which came from the Occident. On emerging from the kiln the fish blazed out from the body. The glaze was lustrous and thick.” The expression Chi-hung signifies the clear red of the sky after rain. Such poetic epithets were not unnaturally employed by the Chinese, for the reds of their fine porcelains were in truth a poem. Hsiang, in his Illustrated Catalogue, speaks of the same red as “the colour of liquid dawn” (Liu-/’1a-hung), a term finely descrip- tive of its clear, pure brilliancy. It will be observed that the description quoted by the Tao-/u is some- what confusing, being applicable equally to white porcelain decorated with red fishes, or to red porce- lain having fish-shaped handles. In point of fact, both kinds were manufactured with marked success by the Hsuan-té experts, but as the former has al- ready been included in the section of ‘porcelain having decoration under the glaze,’ further refer- ence need not be made to it here. ‘The two varie- ties of Hsuan-té ware that belong to the present part

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