Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/74

 matic, their tints merging happily into each other at the edges while retaining their purity. In this latter class the typical variety had delicate clair-de-lune glaze covering the interior of a piece and passing, on the outside, without suggesting any break of continuity, into a colour resembling, but even softer than, that of red hawthorn. The external tint was not uniform, but minutely mottled or dappled throughout, a pleasing play of light and shade being thus produced. In specimens of this class, and indeed in all fine examples of old Chün-yao, the clair-de-lune glaze is broken by flattened v-shaped marks, through which the beautiful azure of the heart of the glaze is apparent. These marks are much valued by Chinese connoisseurs. Their presence or absence alone constitutes, in the eyes of some virtuosi, the difference between excellence and mediocrity. Anyone who has seen specimens of Yueh-pai (clair-de-lune) ware must be familiar with the fact that the deeper azure of the glaze gleams out in spaces of greater or less magnitude, recalling the depths of colour seen through breaks in a fleecy sky. This feature occurs in the Chün-yao, and its description by Chinese writers of former days has greatly perplexed modern translators. It should be observed, however, that clair-de-lune monochromes, though manufactured at Chün-chou, were not greatly esteemed. The combination of clair-de-lune with vermilion red ranked much higher. With regard to the green colour of Chun-yao, the reader must not suppose that there is question of a céladon monochrome. Like the clair-de-lune, this green also occurred in combination with red and even with purple. Specimens showing the three colours—cinnabar red, ripe-grape purple, and