Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/67

 character of their fracture indicates a smaller proportion of silica in the mass than is generally present in porcelain proper. The glaze is thin, lustrous, and soft; not perfectly pure in colour, but showing a greyish or cream-like tinge. The ornamentation appears to consist invariably of simple diapers, rudimentary floral designs, or conventionalised phœnixes. They are fairly finished below, but adhering to the under surface are generally found "spur-marks," three in number, showing that the piece was supported in the kiln on little felspathic pillars—a method supposed by some writers to be peculiar to Japan, though in reality it was borrowed from Korea. The Chinese potters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when baking such objects as bowls or cups, usually rested them on their upper rims in the oven, the result being, of course, that the lips were rough and unglazed. If such a habit prevailed at any time in Korea, there is no evidence of the fact. It is possible that future explorations in Korea may furnish striking examples of this variety of white semi-porcelain, but at present it is exceedingly scarce, and the rare specimens procurable are of insignificant character. A point to be noted here is that the Koreans, like the Japanese, appreciated the productions of foreign kilns. They imported and valued Chinese wares, and the amateur must be careful not to assume that everything found in a Korean tomb is necessarily of Korean manufacture. Some of the white semi-porcelain of Persia, obtained in Han-chung (Söul), has been mistaken for a local product.

The second and more familiar variety of ancient Korean ware is céladon. In the "History of Ching-tê-chên Keramics" it is spoken of as having a pale green colour and resembling the well-known Lung-chuan-yao, the staple céladon of the Middle Kingdom. There is, however, an easily recognised difference between the céladon of Korea—namely, the ware manufactured before the close of the fourteenth century—and that of China: pâte of the former is not so dense or dark in colour as the pâte of the latter. The Korean glaze also is much thinner than the Chinese, and lacks the peculiarly solid yet soft appearance of the latter. Nevertheless