Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/80

 palate. These qualities the Chien-yao exhibited in the highest degree. Thick enough to prevent the tea from cooling rapidly, its pâte was of such a nature as not to convey the heat of the beverage to the drinker's hand or lips, while its glaze not only offered a pleasant contrast to the bright green of the powdered tea, but was also admirable for its own sake. In truth, the glaze of the Chien-yao deserves great praise. On a ground of mirror-black are seen shifting tints of purple and blue; reflections of deep green, like the glassy colour of the raven's wing; lines of soft silver, regular as hair; and sometimes, in specimens of later date, the decoration takes the form of conventional Phoenixes, butterflies, maple-leaves, and so forth, in golden brown of the most satisfying richness and beauty. All these designs and tints possess the same property as that described in the case of spotted céladon—they seem to float in the glaze. In short, the Chien-yao, though its pâte remained always a rather coarse stone-ware, must be ranked, for the sake of its glaze, as a triumph of keramic skill. The most dexterous workmen of later times failed to imitate it. During the past five centuries, cups of this ware have been almost indispensable to the Japanese chajin. Before the nation turned, fourteen years ago, from its life of luxurious refinement, a single specimen of the best varieties commanded a price of from fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars.

In the Tao-lu it is stated that the choicest specimens of Chien-yao were generally in the form of bowls with narrow bases and wide mouths. Those in which the black glaze was spotted with "yellowish pearls," technically compared in colour to the fur of