Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/381

 There is also a beautiful surface of blue or green marbled with white or speckled with red. The Kwang-tung potters seem to have experienced difficulty in the management of their baking processes, for their glazes often show blisters or lacks of continuity. The history of the factory is not accurately known, and as year-marks do not seem to have been employed at any time, there is little to guide in determining the age of a specimen. The only marks that occur are Koh Min-tsiang-chi, or more rarely Koh Yuan-tsiang-chi, signifying "made by Koh Min-tsiang or Koh Yuan-tsiang." These marks are stamped in the red or reddish brown paste on the unglazed bottom of a piece. The frequency of their occurrence shows that Koh Min-tsiang and Koh Yuan-tsiang must have played an important part in the manufacture of this species of Kwang-yao, but repeated investigations have failed to elicit any information about either of the men. In Japan, where under the name of Namako (bêche-de-mer, owing to the resemblance the variegated glaze bears to the appearance of the sea-snail), many excellent specimens have been preserved by collectors. The two Koh are said to have flourished at the close of the Ming dynasty, and the appearance of pieces thus marked tallies with this theory as to their age. It is at all events pretty certain that no example of flambé Kwang-yao dates from an earlier period than the sixteenth century, and that the great majority of those coming into the market are from kilns of the Kang-hsi or Chien-lung era.

Neither in China nor in the West has this variety of ware been much valued at any time, though its rich lustrous surface and play of fine colours ought to