Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/324

 CHINA

from the Chzen-/ung era are in every respect fine examples of monochromes, their only fault being want of brilliancy and purity. Even later specimens may mislead the unwary, for though their biscuit is comparatively coarse, their technique is fair, and their interior and under surfaces are covered with white, or buff, glaze crackled or not crackled. On the whole, however, the garish, vitreous aspect, lack of depth, and weakness of tone of the great majority of Chz-hung porcelains ought to obviate the numerous mistakes made about them.

Rich and beautiful as is the Lang-yao, it is rivalled, and in Chinese estimation sometimes excelled, by a porcelain of which the colour is called Chiang-tou- hung, owing to its resemblance to the blossom of 2 species of bean. This colour is indescribable except by recourse to some such comparison. The Chiang- tou-hung is from the Kang-hsi factories. It may be regarded as the Tszmg representative of the Hszen- hung of the Ming dynasty, though the latter appears to have been a darker red. As compared with the Lang-yao, the distinctive feature of the C/zang-tou red is delicacy. The tender bloom of the bean blossom well describes it. [The tone varies greatly, but the closer the resemblance to the natural colour of the bean blossom, the greater the esteem accorded to a specimen. It does not appear that a clear distinction has hitherto been observed by Western collecters between Lang-yao, Chi-hung and Chtang-tou-hung, but by Chinese connoisseurs the three wares are never confounded.

At the head of all red glazes stands the Pzn-4wo- tsing. This term signifies the “‘ green of sprout- ing plants,’ or the “green of the water-shield,”’

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