# China: Its History, Arts, and Literature/Volume 1/Chapter 12

Chapter XII
CHINESE POTTERY
FROM what has been written in preceding chapters, it will be gathered that the distinction between pottery and porcelain in Chinese wares is not always so clearly marked as the amateur might anticipate. Between the extremes of hard-paste translucid porcelain and genuine pottery there are many varieties of soft-paste and stone-ware. In fact the keramist varied the composition of his pâte to suit the glaze he desired to apply to it. Even at an epoch when the processes of manufacturing hard-paste porcelain were thoroughly familiar to him, he preferred soft pâte, and sometimes stone-ware, as a ground for his choicest glazes or most delicate decoration. But though translucency and timbre were not points of special excellence in his estimation, he regarded pottery proper as a decidedly inferior product. Dr. Bushell writes thus:—"Tsu is defined in the older dictionaries as a fine, compact tao, pottery. It is distinguished from earthenware (wa) by the clear musical tone it gives when struck sharply with the finger nail. The term pottery, as with us, includes porcelain and earthenware, both glazed (liu—li-wa) and plain. Prince Kung, one day, admired a glazed Buddha from the ​ruins of the Summer Palace, taking it for old flambé porcelain, till he walked up and tapped it and exclaimed contemptuously 'Wa-te!' (it is pottery). The Chinese have no word for stone-ware, and, in truth, there is no scientific distinction between these three substances, which pass into each other by imperceptible gradations." And yet it is evident from this very narrative that to the Chinese connoisseur there is nothing imperceptible in the difference which struck Prince Kung so forcibly. The truth is that while a stone-ware pâte and a translucid porcelain pâte are often difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish, especially when each is overlaid by thick glaze, no such confusion exists in China between either of these pâtes and pottery or faience in the Western sense of the terms. The latter was not largely manufactured in the Middle Kingdom, its principal uses being for glazed tiles and architectural ornaments. Numerous specimens of architectural ornaments in faience, as statues, mythical monsters, and so forth, existed in the Summer Palace at Peking, and a good example of glazed tiles is furnished by the celebrated "Porcelain Tower" of Nanking, the greater part of which consisted of glazed earthenware. The glazes most commonly found in decorative specimens of faience are green, yellow, turquoise blue, and purple, the two last being often combined. Ware of this type has already been spoken of in connection with "Three-colour Porcelain." Its place of production is the province of Shan-si, and specimens are still procurable without great difficulty. Their decorative and brilliant character have won them favour with amateurs, and many pieces are to be seen in European collections; as for example, vases with ​reticulated panels and designs in relief; others with scroll-pattern in relief on monochromatic ground of a different colour; censers or ornaments in the form of mythical animals, birds, rabbits, fabulous personages, and so forth, all remarkable for the profusion of bright turquoise, purple, and green enamels used in their decoration. Such ware, although for the most part faience, occasionally has genuine porcelain pâte, in which case it must be regarded as a Chingtê-chên reproduction of the original Shan-si manufacture.
Two other types of faience have been mentioned in preceding chapters under the headings to which they belong respectively. They are the Tsü-chou-yao and the Tu-Ting-yao; the former easily recognised by its yellowish glaze and sparse decoration in black or brown; the latter, an imitation of the celebrated Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty. The heavier examples of the Tu-ting-yao came from the Kwang-tung factories, to which also is to be attributed another variety of faience or stone-ware, well known to Western collectors but often wrongly classed as "Transmutation Ware." This type of Kwang-yao owes its attractions entirely to the glaze. The pâte is red and opaque, varying in fineness but never rising above the level of stone-ware. The glaze, thick and lustrous, is generally deep blue speckled, flecked or clouded with white or green. Sometimes, however, the order of these colours is reversed: green becomes the prevailing tint, the blue looking out from beneath it in streaks or spots. In rare cases there is addition of yellow speckles, and in the choicest examples of all iron red with metallic sheen presents itself at the lips and shoulders of vases. ​There is also a beautiful surface of blue or green marbled with white or speckled with red. The Kwang-tung potters seem to have experienced difficulty in the management of their baking processes, for their glazes often show blisters or lacks of continuity. The history of the factory is not accurately known, and as year-marks do not seem to have been employed at any time, there is little to guide in determining the age of a specimen. The only marks that occur are Koh Min-tsiang-chi, or more rarely Koh Yuan-tsiang-chi, signifying "made by Koh Min-tsiang or Koh Yuan-tsiang." These marks are stamped in the red or reddish brown paste on the unglazed bottom of a piece. The frequency of their occurrence shows that Koh Min-tsiang and Koh Yuan-tsiang must have played an important part in the manufacture of this species of Kwang-yao, but repeated investigations have failed to elicit any information about either of the men. In Japan, where under the name of Namako (bêche-de-mer, owing to the resemblance the variegated glaze bears to the appearance of the sea-snail), many excellent specimens have been preserved by collectors. The two Koh are said to have flourished at the close of the Ming dynasty, and the appearance of pieces thus marked tallies with this theory as to their age. It is at all events pretty certain that no example of flambé Kwang-yao dates from an earlier period than the sixteenth century, and that the great majority of those coming into the market are from kilns of the Kang-hsi or Chien-lung era.
Neither in China nor in the West has this variety of ware been much valued at any time, though its rich lustrous surface and play of fine colours ought to ​have brought it into notice. At all events the Ching-tê-chên experts thought it worthy of imitation, and succeeded so well that no attempt is made by Chinese connoisseurs to distinguish between the Kwang-tung originals and the Ching-tê-chên reproductions. Both have the same red, or reddish brown pâte, and both the same curiously mottled and often very beautiful glazes, unlike anything else in the range of Chinese keramics. Japanese connoisseurs attach great value to good specimens of Kwang-yao, the characteristics which they consider essential being rich but soft blue, finely and uniformly speckled with white, lustrous glaze, and general accuracy of technique. For pieces satisfying these conditions they have always been ready to pay high prices, and the natural consequence is that choice specimens of Kwang-yao are more numerous in Japan than in China. It seems strange that this ware has not commanded larger appreciation in the West, for its beauty is unquestionable and its successful production has become completely a thing of the past.
The third principal variety of Kwang-yao has already been spoken of. Reference is made to it again merely for convenience of classification. It is distinguished by its peculiar viscous clair-de-lune glaze. The pâte resembles that of the flambé Kwang-yao described above, but is usually finer. This ware is often confounded with Yuan-tsu (Yuan dynasty ware), the two having very similar pâtes and general likeness of colour. Fine specimens of this kind of Kwang-yao, with their rich velvety glaze and soft bloom of bluish creamy white, passing into light and deep tints of lilac or azure, rank high among keramic productions. It is, however, probable that many of the best speci​mens were not manufactured in Kwang-tung but at Ching-tê-chên.
The faiences spoken of above are the only notable wares of their class in China. But when the student comes to consider pottery, he is confronted by an important ware, the Yi-hsing-yao, known to Western collectors as boccaro. Yi-hsing lies near the Western shore of the Tai-wu Lake, a few miles from Shanghai, up the Yang-tsze-kiang. It is still celebrated for its terra cotta pottery, immense quantities of which are used by the Chinese for tea-pots. (The modern productions, however, are coarse and clumsy as compared with those that commanded the admiration of tea-drinkers, especially in Japan, during the past three centuries. The pâte of the latter is as fine as pipe-clay and almost as hard as porcelain. Prized essentially for the colour and quality of the biscuit, it was not glazed, the keramist, depending for decorative effect upon quaint conceits of shape and delicately moulded ornaments incised or in relief. It would be nearly as difficult to detail all the colours of the Yi-hsing pâte as to catalogue the innumerable forms of tiny tea-pots to the manufacture of which the factories devoted their chief attention. In the Illustrated Catalogue of H’siang two specimens are depicted, but the painter, by an unskilful use of pigments, has suggested the false idea that the pieces are glazed. Hi’siang, as translated by Dr. Bushell, describes them thus:—
Tea-pot of Yi-hsing pottery of the Ming dynasty. Of plain form with hexagonal section. The pottery of Yi-hsing dates from the Ching-tê era (1506-1521) of our own dynasty, during which a celebrated potter named Kung-chun, a native of the district, fashioned vessels of earthenware to ​hold tea which were often changed in the furnace like this one. Its original colour is a light brown like felt, which changes to a bright green when the tea is put in, gradually reverting to its former colour, line by line, as the tea is poured out. This is only a curious accidental peculiarity, and yet modern virtuosi prize it most highly. This and the following tea-pot I saw at the capital in the collection of a prince, who had bought the two from Chang, a high officer of Nanking, for 500 taels. Height, 4½ inches.
Tea-pot of Ming dynasty Yi-hsing pottery, made by Kung-chun. Of vermilion red pâte, changing to bright green when tea is poured in, as described above. A wonderful transformation which I could not have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes. Height, 5 inches.
It is of course obvious that pottery covered with glaze could not change colour under the circumstances mentioned, and for the rest there is no doubt whatever that glaze was not employed in the manufacture of this ware. The price mentioned by H’siang—more than seven hundred dollars for two little pots, the one 4½, the other 5, inches high—attests the value placed on choice specimens of Yi-hsing-yao by Chinese connoisseurs at the close of the Mzng dynasty. In Japan the fancy was still more marked. There the ware has always been known as Shu-dei (vermilion pottery) or Haku-dei (white pottery), and a tea-pot of it forms an essential feature in every chajin's equipage. Owing to this high appreciation on the part of the Japanese tea-clubs, there has been preserved in Japan an exceptionally accurate Chinese record of the origin and manufacture of the Yi-hsing-yao. The account owes nothing to Japanese research, being merely transcribed from Chinese annals; a fact which suggests that if the story of the Yi-hsing-yao, a ware certainly not standing at the head of Chinese ​
keramic productions, has been investigated with so much care by an author of the Middle Kingdom, further research may yet be rewarded by the discov- ery of equally elaborate records in other branches of the Chinese potter’s art. The document translated runs thus : —
The tradition with regard to the discovery of pottery clay is that, at a remote time, a strange-looking priest daily made his appearance in the village, and walked about the streets, calling out, “Treasure to sell! Treasure to sell!” The villagers crowded round and laughed at him. But he said : — “If you do not care to buy treasure, how can you hope to become rich?” Finally, an old villager accompa- nied the priest, and was conducted by the latter to a moun- tain where a hole had been partially dug. After this the priest disappeared, and the people, examining the hole, found that it shone brightly with all the five colours, so that its interior presented the appearance of brocade. The name of the mountain was Tao-jung Shu-shan. It was originally called Tu-shan, but Tung-po Sien-shang, observing its resem- blance to the scenery of Shu-chung, gave it the name of Shu-shan. On the summit is a shrine where Sien-shang is worshipped. In a work, the 27-Asiang Hien-chi, written by Wangchw’an of the Ming dynasty, the authority of an an- cient writer is quoted to show that the mountain called 'I'-shan joins eastward to the range of Twng-ting and is connected with Shu-shang
Light yellow clay comes from the mountain Chao-chwang- shan. It is used to mix with nearly all varieties of clay, be- ing very tough, and an indispensable ingredient of good pottery. Another kind of yellow, called Shi-hwang, or stone yellow, is obtained from the same place. Under the influence of heat it assumes the colour of cinnabar. Azure- blue clay is found at Li-shu: it changes to dark brown in the furnace. In the same district the “ pear-skin” clay is found: pottery made from it has the colour of a fresh pear
Tung-li). Pottery of the colour of pine spikelets is manu- ctured from light scarlet clay, and a variety of light yellow ​clay gives green ware. A clay called Mi-keu (literally, “closed mouth” or “secret opening”) produces light red pottery, and a mixture of “pear-skin” clay with white sand gives pottery the colour of a light shade of Indian ink. The spirit of the mountain is said to create several other varieties of colour when its clays are baked. A clay found at the hill T'wan-shan produces pottery with white spots like pearls; and the same clay mixed with azure-blue and stone-yellow clays give a rust colour of dark or light shade. White clay is obtained principally from a hill called Pai-shishan (white-stone hill), in Chiang-yin. An ancient writer says that in these hills there are caves capable of holding thirty or forty persons, and that from their roofs hang stalactites of various colours. In these caves clays of fine quality are found. The position of the caves changes, however, from time to time, according to the will of the spirit of the mountain. Doubtless if excavation sufficiently deep—two or three hundred feet—were made, good clay would be found everywhere.
The clay, having been carefully selected, is pounded, sifted, and then stored in covered holes to season. In mixing and preparing, the workmen employ various processes which are kept strictly secret. After the pots have been shaped, they too are seasoned for a long time, and ultimately five or six are placed in a carefully closed vessel within the kiln. Great pains and skill are necessary in stoving, excess or deficiency of temperature being alike fatal to the appearance of the finished piece. To make a really choice vase for holding water or tea demands an almost superhuman endowment of taste and dexterity. Not one potter among ten thousand is capable of the achievement. A pot for tea should be small, not large; shallow, not deep; its cover should be concave inside, not flat. Pots for storing tea, for washing tea, for holding hot water, and so forth, all have special characteristics with which the potter must be intimately acquainted.
From the time of Kung-chun down to that of Shi Ta-pin the pâte of good pottery was always distinguished by its fine texture. Some specimens had silvery spots; others had wrinkles, or faintly projecting dots. The longer one of
A priest of the Chin-sha temple, who lived during the Ming dynasty, is said to have been the first to manufacture choice utensils of pottery for tea-drinking purposes, but his name has not been preserved. The temple of Chin-sha is situated about thirteen miles (English) to the south east of Yi-hsing. Kung-chun, however, who flourished in the Chêng-tê era (1506-1521) of the Ming dynasty, was the first really great expert. Servant to one Wu I-shan, an officer of educational affairs, he attended his master when the latter was receiving a course of instruction at the Chin-sha temple, and there succeeded in secretly learning the art of the old priest. His pots were hand-made, and in most of them thumb-marks are faintly visible. Generally their colour is that of a chestnut, and they have a subdued lustre like oxidised gold. Their simplicity and accuracy of shape are inimitable; worthy to be ascribed to divine revelations. The great artist being of the Kung family, many people employ that ideograph in writing his name, but the celebrated potter Shi Ta-pin, whose authority is indisputable, used other ideographs. From the time of Kung-chun downwards we have a series of renowned potters. Their names and specialties are as follow : —
Tung-Han, surnamed Heu-chi. He flourished during the Wan-li era (1573-1629), and is celebrated for his skill in modelling. A characteristic decoration on his pieces was the flower of the water caltrops. He appears to have been the first potter who ornamented the surface of the Yi-hsing ware with elaborate designs in relief.
Chao, whose artist name was Liang. He also flourished during the Wan-li era (1573-1620). His favourite style of ​decoration was that indicated by his name, Liang; i.e., millet, the stalks, ears, and leaves of which he moulded with great skill.
Yuan Chang, another great potter of the Wan-li era.
Shi Ming, a contemporary of the above and the father of Shi Ta-pin. He, together with Tung, Chao, and Yuan, are commonly known as the four celebrities of the Wan-li era. Tung's forte was beauty of decoration, and the other three were renowned for the excellence of their pottery.
Shi Ta-pin, surnamed Shao-shan, flourished during the closing years of the Ming dynasty (1620—1640). He was celebrated for his dexterity in combining coloured clays. He took Kung-chun's works as a model and ultimately developed remarkable skill. Among neither his predecessors nor his successors was there any one who could equal him, and he has always been regarded as a potter endowed with more than human ability. A verse of poetry associates his name with those of Li Ta-chun-fang and Shi Ta-yin-chien as the three patters of greatest eminence at Yi-hsing.
Li Chun-fang was a pupil of Shi Ta-pin. He was a dexterous modeller, but the pâte of his early wares was not of the very highest quality, and it is said that on this account his master often found fault with him. One day he brought a vase which he had made, and which was of exceptionally fine quality, to Ta-pin, and said:—"Does this pot meet with your approval, honoured Signior?" It is with reference to this incident that dilettanti acquired the habit of calling Li's best productions Lao-hiung-hu, or "pots of the honoured Signior." Ultimately Li became so skilful that Ta-pin was content to put his own name on pieces manufactured by his pupil. In point of fact, most of the specimens now attributed to Ta-pin were really made by Li Chun-fang. Connoisseurs, knowing this, are wont to refer to such ware as "Li-ta work, Shi-ta-cachet."
Si Yiu-chüen, surnamed Shi-hang, was not a potter by trade. His father, who was a great admirer of Ta-pin's wares, visited the latter's house one day, in company with ​the lad Sü. In the course of conversation, the father asked Ta-pin to mould an ox, but Ta-pin hesitated to comply, and laid aside the clay which had been offered to him. The lad Sü, taking this clay, went out of the house, and as chance willed, the first thing he saw was an ox in the act of rising from the place where he had been sleeping under a tree. One of the animal's legs was still bent, andSü, watching it attentively, conceived the idea of reproducing its attitude in the clay which he carried. Returning to the potter's house, he showed the piece to Ta-pin, who said, with evident surprise:—"A man of your genius would soon surpass me in my own art." Thenceforth Sü applied himself to pottery. He struck out a style of his own, and varied the composition of his pâtes at will, so as to produce all sorts of charming colours. He made special study of the choice works of ancient keramists, took all sorts of objects for models, and manufactured many varieties of colour. But despite the celebrity which he attained, he used often to say with regret that his best work did not equal the inferior work of Shi Ta-pin. He had a son who also developed great skill as a potter, and to this day the names of Ta-Sü (the elder Sü) and Siao-Sü (the younger Sü) are preserved, though the exact name of the latter is not known. Shi Ta-pin had four other pupils, namely; Ngeu Ching-chun, who excelled in copying flowers and fruits, his execution being fine and delicate; Shao Wan-kin, who followed his teacher's methods exactly; Shao Wan-yin, and Tsiang Poh-Kwa. The last was a man of noble birth, and being averse to associate his family name with the occupation of potting, he used to write his signature with the ideograph Kwa instead of fu, which was his proper signature. His productions showed great force, as well as delicacy of execution.
Chan Yun-hiang was contemporary with another potter, Shi Ying, but was younger and less skilled. He was a proud, lawless person, and ultimately falling into trouble with the authorities, was imprisoned. Hence the common people were wont to speak of him as "Chan the fool." His dexterity as a potter was, however, remarkable. His forte lay in the direction of minute work, and the accurate shapes of his hand-made pieces excited admiration. In inscribing ​his cachet he seems to have imitated the caligraphy of Chun Ta-ch'wan, but his writing is bad though his carving is delicate.
Chan Sin-hiang copied the works of his predecessors Shi and Li, and though he followed his models with great fidelity, evidences of an imitator's hand are discernible. His productions are remarkable for strength and boldness rather than for delicacy, but they all show talent of no common order. The success which he achieved proved his ruin, for he became over-bearing, drank deeply, and courted the society of men above his station. The consequence was that his later works lacked carefulness. Occasionally he selected pieces manufactured by his pupils and put his own cachet on them.
Min Lu-shang was renowned for his reproductions of celebrated masterpieces. He seems to have sacrificed originality to reverence.
Chan Kwang-fu confined himself to studying the works of Kung-chun and Shi Ta-pin. Unfortunately he lost the sight of one eye, and this calamity is more or less evidenced by a want of fineness in his productions.
Chan Chung, a native of Wu-yuen, and originally a manufacturer of porcelain at Ching-tê-chên. Finding it hopeless to look for distinction in a branch of the keramic art already numbering so many devotees, he abandoned porcelain and turned his attention to pottery. His ingenuity was remarkable. Many of the pieces he designed, as perfume-boxes, flower-vases, paper-weights, and so forth, show singularly fine moulding and chiselling. His vases were shaped in the form of flowers, leaves, and fruits and were decorated with insects. His dragons sporting among storm-clouds, with out-stretched claws and straining eyes; his statuettes of the goddess Kuan-yin, her features at once majestic and benevolent—these are indeed wonderful productions, instinct with life. His genius almost equalled that of Lung Mien tao-tsz, but unfortunately he overworked himself and died young.
Chan Chiun-yung, surnamed Se-liang, derived his inspiration from the works of Chung-mei, whom he almost matched in skill and elegance. In style his pieces resemble those of Ngeu Ching-chun. He used no measuring instrument when ​shaping his vessels, not caring for mathematical regularity. His skill in compounding various clays, his wonderfully ingenious shapes, and the hardness of his ware, resembling stone or metal, made him famous from the first. People christened him Chan To-shu of Yi-hsing. He died early.
All the above flourished during the latter years of the Ming dynasty; that is to say, from the Wan-li era (1573—1620) down to 1644. Other celebrities of the same age were Shao-kai, Chen Heu-chi, Shao Erh-sun, and Chan Tsün-hiang, the last a pupil of Shi Ta-pin.
During the two last periods of the Ming dynasty, i.e., the Tien-chi era (1624—1627) and the Ch'ung-chang era (1628—1644), the following potters attained celebrity, viz.:—Chen Li-shan, Chan Hö-chi, Chan Tiang-shang, Chang Yun-tsung, and Chan Chiün-shang.
Some of the potters of Yi-hsing owed their reputation chiefly to their skill in carving inscriptions. Such a man was Chan-chen, whose style of writing has been much imitated by modern artists. Another was Ta-sin, who was employed by Shi Ta-pin to write inscriptions, and who was such a master of penmanship that his inscriptions have been carefully transcribed, and are used by connoisseurs as a standard of excellence. Li Chung-fang, who has been mentioned above as a renowned pupil of Shi Ta-pin, was not far inferior to this Ta-sin in caligraphic ability.
Hiang Pu-sun, another potter of about the same period, was a poet as well as a keramist. He was so proud of his talents that people called him insane, but he scarcely deserved such an epithet. He was incarcerated and died in prison.
During the Ch'ung-chang era (1628—1644), a potter called Ch'an Tsz-ch'o flourished. He was a man of great skill both as a modeller and as a caligraphist. In fact he deserves to be classed among the celebrities of the Ming dynasty.
A still more renowned potter of this dynasty was Ch'an Ming-yuen, surnamed Hao-fang, and called also Hü-yin. He flourished during the Wan-li era (1573—1620), and enjoyed a reputation of the highest character. A well-known writer says that his fame as a potter was widespread, and that wherever he went, nobles and literati invited him to their houses.
​Four other potters, about whose period there is some uncertainty, are Sü T's’z-ching, Hwui Mang-ch’an, Chia Hüen, and Ching Ning-heu. A noted connoisseur and author says that on a tea-pot in his possession the name of Sü Ts’z-ching is inscribed, and that the workmanship and caligraphy are almost worthy to rank with the productions of Kung-chun and Shi Ta-pin. He adds that in his youth he obtained a pot bearing the cachet of Mang-ch’an, but that the style of the caligraphy could not compare with that of Shi Ta-pin. Another writer of note, however, speaks with great enthusiasm of a pot by Mang-ch’an which he (the writer) obtained at the fair of Ts’i-fang Su-shan. There can be little doubt that Mang-ch’an was an expert of skill. Chia Hüen's specialty was the manufacture of seals. I have heard that among the treasures of a well known dilettante there is a vase by Ching Ning-heu, and that it ranks high as a keramic effort, but unfortunately I have not seen it.
The Yi-hsing potters build their ovens in tiers, like rabbit holes, on the face of the hill. The market price of the good clays has gradually risen, and now the places where these clays are found have been dug down even to the water-level. Formerly tea-pots by Kung-chun were fashionable, but subsequently those of Shi Ta-pin came into vogue. A tea-pot must be small, so that the bouquet and flavour of the tea will not disperse. Each guest should have a pot for himself. Among manufacturers of Yi-hsing pottery connoisseurs place Kung-chun first, Shi Ta-pin second, and Chan Yung-hiang third. The productions of these masters are valued like gold and precious gems. Nothing is more important in a tea-pot than a straight spout. The slightest curvature is fatal. A vessel for holding tea is different from a vessel for wine. Wine has no dregs, nor anything to obstruct its issue from the vessel. But with tea such is not the case. The leaves, soaked in water, become enlarged, and if one of them sticks in the spout, the flow is impeded. One drinks tea for pleasure, and one may justly feel irritated if the beverage declines to come out of the pot. A straight spout obviates such an annoyance. The true form of tea-pot began with Kung-chun. Nothing more refined and elegant than his tea-pots exists among tea utensils. Shi Ta-pin's ​productions are scarcely inferior, but those of Chan Hu and Sü Hu must be placed at a long interval. Some class even above Ta-pin the artist Saio Yuen, surnamed Yang Sin. But his works are so rare that it is difficult to judge its merits. Perhaps some of his masterpieces may be brooding over their misfortunes among the excreta of rats and barnyard fowls. It is with pots as with men!
The above treatise is marred by the fault of almost all Eastern works on art subjects: it is little more than a chronological record. What the reader learns from it is that nearly all the renowned potters of Yi-hsing flourished during the last century and a half of the Ming dynasty; that the chief points aimed at by them were elegance and unity of form, delicacy of modelling, quaint colouring of pâte, and caligraphic beauty in their inscriptions and marks. Probably no potters in any other part of the world ever attained such mathematical accuracy in shaping the various parts of their pieces. A lid moulded in the form of a sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum, for example, will be found to fit so accurately that not only does every one of its sixteen convexities correspond perfectly with any one of the sixteen concavities in the neck of the pot, but even the pot itself may be raised by the knob on the lid without the latter coming off. It is said that the Yi-hsing pottery furnished models for Böttcher's Saxon ware, and that it was also copied by the Elers at their factory in Staffordshire. The pottery of the Elers, however, was uniformly red. They never produced any of the curious tints found in Chinese boccaro. It is evident, however, that some of the beauties which the latter possessed in Chinese eyes can scarcely be appreciated by Westerners. This is notably the case with caligraphic skill. The delicately incised diapers ​occasionally found upon Yi-hsing specimens appeal to any one's taste, but it is impossible that foreigners should sympathise with the ecstasy of the Chinese dilettante when he discovers that the inscription on a pot is written in the style of the Tang dynasty, or that it resembles the penmanship of Wan-yen. It is said in China that skill in a certain style of engraving seal-characters cannot be acquired without unremitting practise for a period of from twenty to thirty years. Naturally the works of men who possessed this skill command, in the Chinese market, prices prohibitive to Western collectors who look only for beauties of form, delicacy and fidelity of modelling, and attractions of pâte and surface.
Not infrequently Yi-hsing clay was used to form the body of pieces covered with monochromatic or flambé glazes. These are easily confounded with the Kwang-yao described above.
In another variety the unglazed surface is brightened by enamelled decoration—scrolls, quatrefoils, floral designs, &c. in bas-relief, the colours employed being chiefly lilac, yellow, and green.
The Yi-hsing pottery is the protype of the celebrated Banko-yaki of Japan. Many pieces of the latter resemble the former so closely as to be quite capable of deceiving inexperienced amateurs. The Japanese product, however, is appreciably lighter and generally has coarser pâte than the Chinese. Of course the great majority of specimens of Banko-yaki, especially the modern manufacture, are essentially different from the Yi-hsing-yao, but certain examples of the former, made expressly to imitate the latter, are not easy to distinguish. The Kyôtô potters also took Chinese boccaro as a model for their shudei, and suc​ceeded in manufacturing tea utensils that differ scarcely at all from their originals.
The Yi-hsing-yao is not important from the point of view of a Western collector. As will be gathered from what is written above, it was manufactured for use, not for ornament. Considered as examples of skilful manipulation of clays, curious natural colouring, and admirable delicacy of modelling, some specimens deserve a high place in the most select collection. But the pottery possesses few decorative qualities and belongs chiefly to the class of fictile curiosities.
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