Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/73

 among the productions of the dynasty, but by Chinese connoisseurs at the time (second half of the sixteenth century) when the Illustrated Catalogue of H'siang was written, it was placed at the bottom of the list of Sung products. This unfavourable verdict did not, however, receive the endorsement of subsequent critics, and was certainly not admitted by the potters of Ching-tê-chên in the eighteenth century, who spared no pains to reproduce the Chün glazes. The factory stood near the city now called Yü-chou, in the Kai-fêng-fu district of Hônan province, where, at a somewhat later date, the celebrated Kuan-yao céladons were produced. During the Sung Dynasty Yü-chou was called Chün-chou or Chün-tai: hence the term Chün-yao. The factory dated from the beginning of the dynasty, that is to say from about 960 Like other Sung wares, the Chün-yao undoubtedly improved materially in quality during the three centuries of the dynasty. But as its manufacturers depended entirely on the colour and texture of their glazes, they did not attempt to produce a thin translucid pâte. Generally their ware was thick and solid, though well manipulated and having good timbre. It may be described as very fine stone-ware, showing in places a reddish brown tint. The most esteemed glazes were vermilion red (Chu-hung) and aubergine purple (ch'ieh-tzu). The former was not a brilliant colour, but rather soft and dappled. The latter is compared by Chinese connoisseurs to the purple of ripe grapes. These, however, were not the only colours produced. Moonlight blue (clair-de-lune) and green of various tints are also found. The aubergine variety of Chün-yao appears to have been a monochrome, but the so-called red glazes were polychro-