Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/360

 CHINA

this curious product thus: —“I have been shown a piece of porcelain called Yao-pien, or ware trans- muted in the kiln. ‘The transmutation was caused by deficiency or excess of temperature, or by other agencies difficult to fathom. This piece, which is not a success according to the potter’s notion, and which is the result of chance, is none the less beauti- ful or less esteemed. The intention of the potter was to make vases with red soujfé glazes. A hundred pieces were entirely spoiled. That of which I speak emerged from the kiln with an appearance like agate. If the risk and expense of trials could be borne, the art would doubtless be discovered of accomplishing with certainty that which chance now achieves once in a while. It was thus that the potters proceeded in the case of mirror-black glaze. The caprice. of the furnace impelled them to make the essay, and it succeeded.’ There is little room for doubt that M. d’Entrecolles was partially deceived in this matter. He certainly saw a piece of accidentally << trans- muted’’ ware, but it by no means follows that all Yao-pien-yao was accidentally transmuted. In the «Annals of Fu-liang’’ there is included among the glazes manufactured at Ching-té-chén an “ oil green” (Yu-/u), the origin of which is ascribed to the “an- cient vases called Yao-pzen,’ and which is spoken of as an “antique and fine glaze.’’ This alone would suffice to dispose of the idea that the ware was in- vented at the beginning of the eighteenth century, while M. d’Entrecolles was in China. There are in fact many fine specimens dating unquestionably from the Ming period. ‘The original discovery was proba- bly due to accident, and in subsequent times many pieces must often have been produced under unfore-

339