# China: Its History, Arts, and Literature/Volume 1/Chapter 2

Chapter II
EARLY WARES OF CHINA.
In the following remarks the term "early" is applied to all ware manufactured prior to the Sung dynasty (960-1279).
It is recorded that under the Wei dynasty (220-265 A.D.) keramic ware for the use of the Imperial Palace was supplied by two factories, but no tradition exists as to the nature of the manufactures. Under the next dynasty (the Tsin 265-419) it is stated that a ware called Tung-ngeu-tao was produced in the littoral province now named Chêkiang, at Wen-chou-fu. It was green in colour, and much esteemed for the brilliancy of its glaze. A treatise on tea says that the best known vessels of this ware were shallow, with straight rims and spreading bases. The greatest capacity of the vessels is also mentioned: according to M. Julien's calculation it was from $^{45}$⁄$_{100}$ to $^6$⁄$_{10}$ of a litre. The ware was probably green stoneware of comparatively crude technique.
In the Sui dynasty (581-618), tradition speaks of a species of green ware called Liu-tsu. It was the work of an expert named Ho Chou, or Ho Kuei-lin, President of the Board of Works in the beginning of the seventh century and an antiquarian of established reputation. Ho's object was to imitate a sort of opaque glass (Liu-li), the secret of manufacturing ​which had been lost. He succeeded in producing green stone-ware, for which some have claimed the distinction of having been the first céladon manufactured in China, though no reason is apparent for thus differentiating it from the faïence of the Wei dynasty. Beyond this meagre account, however, nothing is known of the nature or quality of this production.
Contemporaneous with Ho Chou, that is to say, living at the beginning of the seventh century, was an expert called Tao Yü, a name signifying "keramic jade," and therefore probably derived from the nature of the man's productions. For he succeeded in turning out stone-ware so closely resembling green jade—the Chinese beau-ideal of precious substances—that his pieces were distinguished as Chia-yü-ki, or vases of artificial jade. This man seems to have peddled his wares himself, from which fact an idea may, perhaps, be gathered of the insignificance of the industry in his time. His example nevertheless imparted such an impetus to the art that the district of Changnan, where he resided, became famous for its keramic wares. Chang-nan was known in later times as Ching-tê-chên, the great keramic capital of the Middle Kingdom. It had already acquired a name for such work. Some twenty-five years before Tao Yü's time, the first emperor of the Sui dynasty had ordered (583 A.D.) the people of Chang-nan-chin to send him, by way of impost, vases of the products yao and tsu, that is to say keramic ware. It would therefore seem that the potters of Chang-nan-chin (afterwards Ching-tê-chên) had become sufficiently expert, at the close of the sixth century, to be distinguished by the receipt of an order from the Palace; that their first keramist of note (Tao Yü) flourished at the beginning ​of the seventh century, and that his chef d'œuvre was green stone-ware, or céladon, intended to imitate jade.
At or about the time (615 circa) when Tao Yü flourished in Kiang-si, an artist by name Ho Chungchu was working with success at the same factories. His ware—known as Ho-yao—was intended to imitate white jade. It is said to have been made of fine clay, to have been comparatively thin, and to have rivalled its original in softness and lustre. Beyond this there is no record of its qualities. Probably it was stone-ware with fairly manipulated pâte, but depending chiefly on the brilliancy and solidity of its glaze. It attracted so much attention that an order was issued for the supply of certain quantities to the Palace.
Coming now to the Tang dynasty (618-907), the first keramic production of note is the Sheu-yao, a yellowish ware of inferior quality. Japanese traditions describe this as stone-ware of crude technique and inartistic appearance. Its place of manufacture was Sheu-chou in the province of Kiang-nan. A still more meritless ware, which may be passed over without further mention, is ascribed to the neighbouring province of Kiang-si.
During the same dynasty there was manufactured in the province of Chêkiang—which borders Kiangnan and Kiang-si on the east—the Yueh-yao. This is somewhat enthusiastically mentioned. Two varieties are spoken of; the one resembling jade; the other, ice. The colour of the former was green; that of the latter, greenish white. Tradition assigns to the Yueh-yao, the first place among keramic productions of the Tang dynasty. Similar but inferior to the second variety of it was the Hing-yao, manu​factured in the northern province of Pechili. At its best it had uniform muddy white glaze, compared to ice or silver by the author of an early treatise on tea-drinking. Another contemporary production was the Shu-yao, manufactured in the province of Szechuen. The eulogies of this ware are sung by a poet of the time who says that it was light yet solid; that the lustre of the glaze exceeded the brilliancy of snow, and that its timbre resembled that of jade. There is, however, no valid reason to suppose that the Shu-yao excelled its predecessors so greatly as to indicate any marked advance in the keramic art. It was probably semi-porcelain at best. One other ware deserves to be included in the catalogue of Tang productions; namely, the Tsin-yao, manufactured in the province of Kiang-su. Bowls and cups alone are said to have been produced. They are described as pure white, sometimes having fishes moulded in relief or wave pattern incised in the pâte; fashions of decoration that occur frequently in choice wares of later date.
The closing years of the Tang dynasty being only eleven centuries distant from the present time, it might reasonably be expected that some specimens of the wares of that age should still survive. On the other hand, if the conclusions reached above be correct, no great inducement can have existed for preserving such wares as objects of attractive art of remarkable technique. A few, however, are to be found in the hands of Chinese collectors, and there is no apparent reason to doubt their authenticity. They support in every respect the views thus far expressed. Their pâte, not very carefully manipulated, is of dark colour, coarse in grain, and although nearly heavy enough to be called stone-ware belongs rather ​to the pottery class, being without timbre and distinctly soft. The glaze is grass green, lustrous but entirely without the depth and richness that characterise subsequent productions of celebrated kilns. The potter seems to have taken shapes and decorative designs from ancient bronzes such as are depicted in the pages of the Pok-ku Tou-lok (Illustrated Catalogue of Antiquities). The technique is mediocre, indicating an art not yet enlisting earnest effort, and the glaze shows a tendency to blister in the furnace and subsequently to "flake away" from the pâte. This ware is identified by Chinese connoisseurs as the Yueh-yao of the Tang dynasty. How to reconcile the actual qualities of such ware with the poetic eulogies it evoked is a perplexing problem.
It seems improbable that the potter's art should have progressed much during the five dynasties succeeding one another in rapid sequence after the fall of the Tang. The period covered by the five was only sixty years, and during the whole time the country had no respite from internecine wars. To this epoch, however, (i.e. the beginning of the tenth century), is referred the Pi-seh-yao, or "secret-colour ware." The peculiarity of this name has given rise to some conjecture. M. du Sartel, for example, concludes that the Pi-seh-yao was porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze, the term "hidden" or "seeret" being used to denote that the glazing material covered the colour of the decoration. This ingenious conjecture seems inadmissible. The name was used simply in the sense of "private," or "manufactured for special purposes." Whether the Pi-seh-yao was only an improved variety of the Yueh-yao—mentioned above—or whether it was a distinct pro​duction, the evidence of Chinese and Japanese writers goes to prove that it was green faïence or stone-ware—céladon, in fact.
A more celebrated ware than any of the above is also said to have had its origin under one of these five lesser dynasties—the later Chou (954-960). The Keramists of Honan, who at that time enjoyed the distinction of supplying utensils for the Imperial Court, petitioned the Emperor Shih-tsung to designate a colour for the ware thus supplied. The Emperor in reply desired them to imitate the blue of the firmament after rain (Yu-ko-tien-ching). The result was the fabrication of a ware called Ch'ai-yao, Chai being the Emperor's sovereign name. There has been much confusion about the colour of this ware. Julien renders it literally "bleu du ciel après la pluie," a natural interpretation. But there is no doubt that the colour indicated by the Emperor was something much more than "blue," in the ordinary meaning of the term. It was azure of peculiar lightness and delicacy, with a marked tinge of green. Such a colour could not have been produced without great difficulty or with any certainty. It is the tint of the choicest céladon; essentially a connoisseur's colour, not to be appreciated by the uneducated eye. As for the nature of the Chai-yao, it was faïence or stoneware. The Tao-lu alleges that specimens were often disfigured by coarse yellow clay adhering to the base; a fact showing that the processes of manufacture were still more or less crude. The Chai-yao enjoyed an immense reputation. A Chinese poet says that it was thin as paper, sonorous as a musical instrument, polished, lustrous, and remarkable alike for its cerulean colour and the beauty of its crackle. Exagge​rated as this eulogy would seem from a modern point of view, the ware unquestionably attracted great admiration at the time of its manufacture; such admiration that, according to a competent connoisseur of six centuries later, the Chai dynasty was the first to become celebrated for its keramic productions, and fragments of Chai-yao were eagerly sought for by subsequent generations. No specimen survived intact. Probably the manufacture was conducted on a very small scale, and the only representative pieces—those supplied for use at the Imperial Court—were destroyed in the wars that interrupted their production at the fall of the Chou dynasty. In fact, of all the keramic achievements prior to the commencement of the Sung dynasty (960) little is known beyond what may be learned from very meagre records and from a few scarcely identifiable specimens. The details here given about them have practical interest chiefly for the sake of the general conclusion they lead to, namely, that up to the middle of the tenth century the choicest keramic manufacture of China was stone-ware, or semi-porcelain, having two principal varieties of glaze—céladon and white. An ancient Japanese writer, summing up the most celebrated early wares of the Middle Kingdom, says that they may be classified under four heads; namely, "grass-green" ware of the Tsin dynasty (265-419); "green of the thousand hills" of the Tang dynasty (618-907); "greenish cerulean of the sky after rain," and "secret-colour ware" of the Chou dynasty (954-960), and Ju ware of the Sung dynasty (960-1260). The term "green of the thousand hills" is explained by another renowned Japanese dilettante who describes the colour as "the tint given by the breezes ​and dews of nine autumns to the thousand verdure-clad hills." In short, it may be confidently asserted that from the days of Ho Chou and Tao Yü, who imitated green opaque glass and green jade respectively, down to the potters of the Chai-yao, who sought to reproduce the greenish cerulean of the sky between clouds after rain, the beau-ideal of these early keramists was a céladon monochrome, the more excellent in proportion as its colour partook less of green and more of blue, without, however, losing a nuance of the former. Another fact established by these records is that the keramic industry was practised over a very wide area. Throughout the belt of provinces extending from Chien-si in the north-west to Chêkiang and Kiang-si in the east of the empire, potteries were more or less frequent.
In view of the references made above to Japanese antiquarian literature, the reader will naturally be disposed to enquire whether specimens of early Chinese ware do not survive in Japan. The collections of the latter country have always enjoyed comparative immunity from the dangers of war or political iconoclasm. Fire has been their great enemy. Many a storehouse of objects of art has been destroyed in conflagrations which, from time to time, sweep away whole acres of Japan's wooden cities. But of her temples some have survived, and among the ruins of others modern research has discovered specimens of great interest. The late Mr. Ninagawa Noritane, one of Japan's most painstaking antiquarians, personally conducted investigations at the site of Bonshaku-ji, a temple in the province of Omi, which was built in the year 786 A.D. and destroyed within a decade by fire. Among the ruins were found shards of hard ​faïence, covered with three varieties of glaze, light green, grey, and greenish white. These were apparently of Chinese manufacture, and may, perhaps, be regarded as genuine examples of the Yueh-yao of the Tang dynasty, the principal varieties of which, as stated above, are compared to jade and ice. Theories founded on fragments of ware thus discovered are, however, open to much doubt. More satisfactory evidence is furnished by a book (Ruishu Zatsuyô-shô) in which the ceremonials observed at the Japanese Court during the ninth and tenth centuries are described. There is seen a coloured plate showing seven rice-bowls with covers (called ha-gatame, or teeth-hardeners) which were used on the first three days of the New Year. Nothing is said of the exact nature of the ware, nor does the plate determine it. But the glaze is light green—a céladon monochrome. Yet another and less uncertain piece of testimony is furnished by a celebrated collection in the Shôsô-in, at Nara, Japan. In this collection are articles used in the Japanese Imperial household between the years 709 and 784 A.D. Several keramic specimens of Chinese manufacture are included. They are faïence. The majority have monochromatic céladon glaze, but some have two glazes—céladon and yellowish grey—run in tesselated or scolloped patterns. The pâte is very brittle, and has no pretensions whatever to be called porcelain. Here then are unquestionably authentic examples of Chinese ware potted during the Tang dynasty. It may further be presumed that they are fairly representative examples, inasmuch as a very high standard of refinement was observed at the Japanese Imperial Court, and ample facilities existed for ​exchanging products with the Middle Kingdom. Without assuming that these specimens in the Shôsôin collection are to be regarded as chefs d'œuvre of Chinese keramists during the eighth century, it will at all events be justifiable to infer that the general character of the ware produced at the time was faïence of mediocre quality, and that the favourite colour was green, a conclusion already established, as stated above, by examination of specimens that Chinese connoisseurs refer to the Tang dynasty.
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