Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/380

 CHINA

reticulated panels and designs in relief; others with scroll-pattern in relief on monochromatic ground of a different colour; censers or ornaments in the form of mythical animals, birds, rabbits, fabulous person- ages, and so forth, all remarkable for the profusion of bright turquoise, purple, and green enamels used in their decoration. Such ware, although for the most part faience, occasionally has genuine porcelain pate, in which case it must be regarded as a Ching- té-chén reproduction of the original Shan-si manufac- ture.

Two other types of faience have been mentioned in preceding chapters under the headings to which they belong respectively. They are the Tsd-chou-yao and the Tu-Ting-yao; the former easily recognised by its yellowish glaze and sparse decoration in black or brown; the latter, an imitation of the celebrated Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty. ‘The heavier examples of the Tu-ting-yao came from the Kwang-tung fac- tories, to which also is to be attributed another variety of faience or stone-ware, well known to Western collectors but often wrongly classed as “Transmutation Ware.’ This type of Kwang-yao owes its attractions entirely to the glaze. The pate is red and opaque, varying in fineness but never rising above the level of stone-ware. The glaze, thick and lustrous, is generally deep blue speckled, flecked or clouded with white or green. Sometimes, how- ever, the order of these colours is reversed: green becomes the prevailing tint, the blue looking out from beneath it in streaks or spots. In rare cases there is addition of yellow speckles, and in the choi- cest examples of all iron red with metallic sheen presents itself at the lips and shoulders of vases.

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