Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/62

 It is necessary to warn the reader against confounding the Kuan-yao of the Sung dynasty with the Kuan-yao manufactured during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at Ching-tê-chên. The latter is, for the most part, of an entirely different character. It will be described in its place. Here it need only be observed that the term Kuan-yao, in its later use, signified simply "Imperial porcelain," and not a special product of a particular epoch.

The Kuan-yao, as the latest keramic effort of the Sung dynasty, ought to represent the highest achievement of the era's keramic art. But although in the method of treating the crackle, in accuracy of moulding and in general finish, the ware may be said to have excelled anything previously produced, the fact is recorded that the advantage was with the Ju-yao in respect of richness and lustre of glaze and delicacy of colour. To these two wares belong incomparably the finest céladons of ancient times.

Dr. Hirth translates the following passage from the Tao-shuo, as quoted by the Po-wu-yao-lan:—"As regards Kuan-yao, it should be known that the porcelain earth found at the foot of the Fêng-huang-shan (Phoenix Hill) near Hang-chou, is red. For this reason 'the foot' (tsu, technically that part of the bottom on which the vessel rests when being fired, and which is therefore not covered by the enamel; especially applied to the rings seen on the bottom of old céladon vessels) resembles iron in colour. This was at the time called red-mouthed and iron-footed.' The term 'red mouth' refers to the brim, or opening, of the vessel: the latter becomes red by the enamel flowing down and away from it so as to be much thinner on the brim than on the body of the