Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/347

 MONOCHROMATIC WARES

brilliant of Chinese monochromes. Genuinely fine specimens have become exceedingly scarce, though their production was continued with success until the end of the CAza-tsing era (1796-1821). They are close-grained, hard porcelain, with soft lustrous glaze of perfectly uniform turquoise blue, and having deco- rative designs—dragons and phcenixes-— engraved in the pate. Crackle is absent and the technique is unimpeachable. It is important to notice these two points —the nature of the pate and the absence of crackle —if the amateur desires to distinguish be- tween the very choicest specimens and those of sec- ond-rate quality. ‘The variety having fine porcelain pate covered with uniform “king-fisher” glaze of delicate tint with designs carefully engraved in the biscuit, ranks among Imperial Wares (Kuan-yao) in Chinese eyes. An inferior though scarcely less beau- tiful description has a net-work of fine crackle and comparatively soft biscuit with a timbre resembling that of faience rather than of porcelain proper. In this kind engraved designs are exceptional, but deco- ration in high relief occurs not infrequently. Some- times the uniformity of the surface is broken by metallic spots, large or small, producing a_ highly pleasing effect. Turquoise glazes are also found upon reddish brown stone-ware, thin but compara- tively coarse. Such specimens are either to be classed as third-rate examples of Chien-/ung and Chia-tsing manufactures, or to be attributed to the workshops of Taou-Kwang (1821-1851) and subsequent eras. Many of them possess great decorative attractions.

It should be explained that in insisting upon the absence of crackle the intention is merely to note a feature of the one and only variety of “ king-fisher”’

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