Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/338

 CHINA

author of the Tao-/u ranks it first among the four choicest varieties of the Kang-hsi era. Like the “ eel- yellow,” it has solid pate of fine stone-ware, over which is runa dark olive green glaze, covered, more or less thickly, with yellow speckles. Sometimes the green predominates, sometimes the yellow, and some- times the latter appears in the form of flecks rather than spots. In this last case a close resemblance to patinated bronze is discernible and was doubtless in- tended, since the glaze is often associated with designs, incised or in relief, copied from old bronzes and occasionally picked out with gold. In the choicest examples the yellow spots appear like a dappling of gold floating in the glaze. Specimens of this latter nature are immensely prized by the Chinese. There is no record to show when either the “ eel-yellow ”’ or the “ spotted-yellow”’ was invented. They first appear among the “ Imperial Wares” of the Kang-hsi era, and, so far as is known, the composition of these curious and difficult colours must be attributed to the genius of Tang. It seems reasonable to conclude that had glazes so remarkable been manufactured during the Ming dynasty, some account, written or traditional, would have been preserved of them. After the Chzen-/ung era they ceased to be produced with success. They have always been highly esteemed in Japan, where they are known as Soba-yaki (buck- wheat ware), probably in allusion to the colour of cakes made of that grain, or, as some assert, to the green and yellow aspect of a ripening crop of the cereal.

In a catalogue of Ching-té-chén keramic produc- tions quoted by the Tao-/u, mention is made of “ yel- low vases of the European type.’’ ‘The reference is

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