K’ANG HSI MONOCHROMES
In passing to the K’ang Hsi monochromes we enter a large field with
boundaries ill defined. Many of the colours are legacies from the
Ming potters, and most of them were handed on to after generations;
some indeed have enjoyed an unbroken descent to the present day.
Consequently there are few things more difficult in the study of
Chinese porcelain than the dating of single-colour wares.
In some cases the origin of a particular glaze has been recorded, and
within certain limits the style of the piece will guide us in assessing
its age; but how often must we be content with some such non-committal
phrase as “early eighteenth century,” which embraces the late K’ang
Hsi, the Yung Chêng and the early Ch’ien Lung periods? On the other
hand, the careful student observes certain points of style and finish,
certain slight peculiarities of form which are distinctive of the
different periods, and on these indefinite signs he is able to classify
the doubtful specimens. To the inexpert his methods may seem arbitrary
and mysterious, but his principles, though not easy to enunciate, are
sound nevertheless.
[Illustration: Plate 109.--Figure of Shou Lao, Taoist God of
Longevity.
Porcelain painted with _famille verte_ enamels. K’ang Hsi
period (1662–1722). Height 17¼ inches. _Salting Collection_
(_V. & A. Museum_).]
We have already had occasion to discuss a few of the K’ang Hsi
monochromes in dealing with the question of _lang yao_. But besides
the _sang de bœuf_ there is another rare and costly red to which the
Americans have given the expressive name of “peach bloom.” Since their
first acquaintance with this colour in the last half of the nineteenth
century,[323] American collectors have been enamoured of it, and as
they have never hesitated to pay vast sums for good specimens, most
of the fine “peach blooms” have found their way to the United States,
and choice examples are rare in England. “The prevailing shade,” to
quote from Bushell’s description, “is a pale red, becoming pink
in some parts, in others mottled with russet spots, displayed upon a
background of light green celadon tint. The last colour occasionally
comes out more prominently, and deepens into clouds of bright apple
green tint.” The Chinese, in comparing the colour, have thought of the
apple rather than the peach; it is _p’in-kuo hung_ (apple red), and
the markings on it are _p’in-kuo ch’ing_ (apple green), and _mei kuei
tzŭ_ (rose crimson). Another Chinese name for the colour is _chiang-tou
hung_ (bean red), in allusion to the small Chinese kidney-bean with its
variegated pink colour and brown spots.
It is generally supposed that, like the _sang de bœuf_, the “peach
bloom” owes its hue to copper oxide, and that all the accessory tints,
the russet brown and apple green, are due to happy accidents befalling
the same colouring medium in the changeful atmosphere of the kiln.[324]
This precious glaze is usually found on small objects such as water
pots and brush washers for the writing table (see Plate 111[325]),
and snuff bottles, and a few small elegantly formed flower vases of
bottle shape, with high shoulders and slender neck, the body sometimes
moulded in chrysanthemum petal design, or, again, on vases of slender,
graceful, ovoid form, with bodies tapering downwards, and the mouth
rim slightly flaring. In every case the bottom of the vessel shows a
fine white-glazed porcelain with unctuous paste, and the K’ang Hsi
mark in six blue characters written in a delicate but very mannered
calligraphy, which seems to be peculiar to this type of ware, and to a
few choice _clair de lune_ and celadon vases of similar form and make.
The colour in the peach bloom glaze, as in the _sang de bœuf_, is
sometimes fired out and fades into white or leaves a pale olive green
surface with only a few spots of brown or pink to bear witness to the
original intention of the potter. The glaze is sometimes crackled and
occasionally it runs down in a thick crystalline mass at the base of
the vessel.
Needless to say this costly porcelain has claimed the earnest attention
of the modern imitator. The first real success was achieved by a
Japanese potter at the end of the last century. He was able to make
admirable copies of the colour, but failed to reproduce adequately the
paste and glaze of the originals. I am told that he was persuaded to
transfer his secret to China, and with the Chinese body his imitations
were completely successful. The latter part of the story is based
on hearsay, and is given as such; but it is certain that there are
exceedingly clever modern copies of the old peach blooms in the market;
otherwise how could an inexpert collector in China bring home half a
dozen peach blooms bought at bargain prices?
The copper red used in painting underglaze designs[326] will sometimes
develop a peach bloom colour, and there is a vase in the British Museum
with parti-coloured glaze in large patches of blue, celadon, and a
copper red which has broken into the characteristic tints of the peach
bloom vases.
Another red of copper origin allied to the _sang de bœuf_ and the
peach bloom, and at times verging on both, is the maroon red, which
ranges from crimson to a deep liver colour. There are wine cups of this
colour whose glaze clouded with deep crimson recalls the “dawn red”
of the wine cups made by Hao Shih-chiu.[327] Sometimes the red covers
part only of the surface, shading off into the white glaze. The finer
specimens have either a crimson or a pinkish tinge, but far more often
the glaze has issued from the kiln with a dull liver tint.
Naturally the value of the specimens varies widely with the beauty of
the colour. The pinker shades approach within measurable distance of
the pink of the peach bloom, and they are often classed with the latter
by their proud owners; but the colour is usually uniform, and lacks the
bursts of russet brown and green which variegate the true peach bloom,
and the basis of the maroon is a pure white glaze without the celadon
tints which seem to underlie the peach bloom. It may be added that the
maroon red glaze is usually uncrackled.
As to the overglaze red, which is known by the names of _mo hung_
(painted red) and _ts’ai hung_ (enamel red), it is the colour
derived from iron, and it was used both as one of the enamels of the
_famille verte_ palette and as a monochrome. In both capacities it
figured on Ming porcelain, and was fully discussed in that connection.
On K’ang Hsi wares it varied in tone from dark brick red to a light
orange, according to the density of the pigment, and in texture from
a thin dry film to a lustrous enamel, according to the quantity of
fluxing material[328] combined with it. Among the richly fluxed
varieties is a fine tomato colour of light, translucent tone. Sometimes
the iron red is found as sole medium for painted designs, as on a
rouleau vase in the Salting collection, but more commonly it serves as
a ground colour between panels of enamelled ornament (Plate 103), or in
border passages. In these last two positions it is usually of a light
orange shade, and broken by floral scrolls reserved in white. A dark
shade of the same pigment is also used in diapers of curled scrolls,
forming a groundwork for enamelled decoration. There are besides
beautiful examples of a pure red monochrome formed of this colour, but
I have only met with these among the later wares.
* * * * *
The blue monochromes include a large number of glazes varying in depth
and shade with the quality and quantity of the cobalt which is mingled
with the glazing material. These are _chiao ch’ing_ (blue monochrome
glazes), and they are all high-fired colours. They include the _chi
ch’ing_[329] or deep sky blue, whose darker shades are also named
_ta ch’ing_ (_gros bleu_), the slaty blue, the pale clear blue,[330]
the dark and light lavender shades, and the faintly tinted _clair de
lune_ or “moon white” (_yüeh pai_), in which the amount of cobalt used
must have been infinitesimal. But it would be useless to attempt to
catalogue the innumerable shades of blue, which must have varied with
every fresh mixture of colour and glaze and every fresh firing.
There is, however, another group materially different from the
ordinary blue glazes. In this the colour was applied direct to
the body, as in blue and white painting, and a colourless glaze
subsequently added, with the natural result that the blue seems to be
incorporated with the body of the ware rather than with the glaze.
There were several ways of applying the colour, each producing a
slightly different effect. The cobalt powder could be mixed with water,
and washed on smoothly with a brush, or dabbed on with a sponge to give
a marbled appearance, or it could be projected on to the moistened
surface in a dry powder, through gauze stretched across the end of a
bamboo tube.
The result of the last process was an infinity of minute specks of
blue, a massing of innumerable points of colour. This is the well-known
“powder blue,” the _bleu soufflé_, or blown blue described by Père
d’Entrecolles in his second letter[331]: “As for the _soufflé_ blue
called _tsoui tsim_ (_ch’ui ch’ing_), the finest blue, prepared in
the manner which I have described, is used. This is blown on to the
vase, and when it is dry the ordinary glaze is applied either alone or
mixed with _tsoui yeou_ (_sui yu_), if crackle[332] is required.” We
are further told that as on the blue and white a glaze softened with a
considerable proportion of lime was necessary for the perfection of the
colour.
The “powder blue” seems to have been a new invention in the K’ang Hsi
period. Under the name of _ch’ui ch’ing_ (blown blue) it figures in the
_T’ao lu_[333] among the triumphs of Ts’ang Ying-hsüan’s directorate.
It is certainly a singularly beautiful colour effect, and worthy of the
homage it has received from collectors and ceramic historians. Though
the blue used was as a rule of the finest quality, it varied much in
intensity and tone with the nature of the cobalt and amount applied.
Probably the majority of collectors would give the palm to the darker
shades, but tastes differ, and the lighter tones when the blue is pure
sapphire have found whole-hearted admirers. A notable feature of the
powder blue is its surprising brilliancy in artificial light, when most
other porcelain colours suffer eclipse.
[Illustration: PLATE 110
Two examples of “Powder Blue” (_ch’ui ch’ing_) Porcelain
of the K’ang Hsi period (1662–1722), in the Victoria and Albert
Museum
Fig. 1.--Bottle of gourd shape with slender neck: powder blue
ground with gilt designs from the Hundred Antiques (_po ku_)
and borders of _ju-i_ pattern, formal flowers and plantain
leaves. Height 7½ inches.
Fig. 2.--Bottle-shaped Vase with _famille verte_ panels of
rockwork and flowers reserved in a powder blue ground. Height 7
inches. _Salting Collection._]
It was used indifferently as a simple monochrome or as a ground
in which panel decoration was reserved, the panels painted in
_famille_ _verte_ enamels or in blue and white; and in both cases
the blue surface was usually embellished with light traceries in gold.
Plate 110 illustrates both types. Both are highly prized by collectors,
and change hands at high prices when of the good quality which is usual
on the K’ang Hsi specimens. We have already noted[334] the occasional
decoration of the powder blue ground with designs in _famille verte_
enamels, and Père d’Entrecolles[335] records another process of
ornamentation which was applied to all the blue grounds of this group,
viz. the washed, the sponged, and the powder blues: “There are workmen
who trace designs with the point of a long needle on this blue whether
_soufflé_ or otherwise; the needle removes as many little specks of
dry blue as are necessary to form the design; then the glaze is put
on.” From this precise description it is easy to recognise this simple
but effective decoration. There are two examples in the British Museum
with dragon designs etched in this fashion, the one in a washed blue,
and the other in a sponged blue ground. The pattern appears in white
outline where the blue has been removed by the needle and the porcelain
body exposed.
Long usage has given sanction to the term “mazarine blue.” It was
applied to the dark blue ground colour of eighteenth century English
porcelain, and in the contemporary catalogues the name “mazareen” was
given to any kind of deep blue from the mottled violet of Chelsea to
the powdery _gros bleu_ of Worcester. In reference to Chinese porcelain
it is used to-day with similar freedom for the _ta ch’ing_ or dark sky
blue and for the powder blue. Assuming that the phrase derives from the
famous Cardinal Mazarin, it cannot in its original sense have had any
reference to powder blue, for the Cardinal died in 1661, and, if he
had a weakness for blue monochrome, it must have been for some variety
of the _chiao ch’ing_ or blue glazes proper which were current at the
end of the Ming and the beginning of the Ch’ing dynasties. At the
present day it is impossible to guess the true shade of mazarine blue,
and we must be content to regard it as a phrase connoting a deep blue
monochrome the exact definition of which has gone beyond recall.[336]
The K’ang Hsi mark is sometimes found on porcelain coated with a very
dark purplish blue glaze with soft looking surface and minute crackle.
It is apparently one of those glazes which are fired in the temperate
parts of the kiln, and its use is more frequent on porcelains of a
slightly later period.
Finally, the turquoise blue, variously named _fei ts’ui_ (kingfisher
blue) and _k’ung ch’iao lü_ (peacock green), was freely used as a
monochrome on figures and ornamental wares. It is a colour which
descends from Ming times, and whose use has continued unchecked to the
present day, so that it is often extremely difficult to give a precise
date to any particular specimen, especially if the object happens to be
of archaic form, a copy of an old bronze or the like. Its nature has
already been discussed[337] among the Ming glazes, and one can only
say that the K’ang Hsi pieces have all the virtues of the K’ang Hsi
manufacture--fine material, good potting, shapely form, and beautiful
quality of colour. The tint varies widely from the soft turquoise blue
of kingfisher feathers to a deep turquoise green, and some of the most
attractive specimens are mottled or spotted with patches of greenish
black. The glaze is always minutely crackled, and has sufficient
transparency to allow engraved or carved designs on the body to be
visible. It is a colour which develops well on an earthen body, and the
potters often mixed coarse clay with the ware which was intended to
receive the turquoise glaze; but this, I think, was mainly practised
after the K’ang Hsi period, and the K’ang Hsi specimens will, as a
rule, be found to have a pure white porcelain basis.
As in the Ming wares, the turquoise sometimes shares the field
with an aubergine purple of violet tone, both colours being of the
_demi-grand feu_. The purple is also used as a monochrome. There
are, in fact, two aubergine purple monochromes, the one a thick and
relatively opaque colour sometimes full of minute points as though it
had been blown on like the powder blue, the other a thin transparent
(and often iridescent) glaze of browner tone. Both are derived from
cobaltiferous ore of manganese, both have descended from the Ming
period, and have already been discussed as monochromes and as colours
applied to the biscuit.
[Illustration: PLATE 111
Two examples of Single-colour Porcelain in the Salting Collection
(Victoria and Albert Museum)
Fig. 1.--Bottle-shaped Vase of Porcelain with landscape design
lightly engraved in relief under a turquoise blue glaze. Early
eighteenth century. Height 8½ inches.
Fig. 2.--Water Vessel for the Writing Table of the form known as
_T’ai-po tsun_ after the poet Li T’ai-po. Porcelain with
faintly engraved dragon medallions under a peach bloom glaze; the
neck cut down and fitted with a metal collar. Mark in blue of the
K’ang Hsi period (1662–1722) in six characters. Height 2¾ inches.]
The cobaltiferous ore of manganese is the same material which is used
to give a blue colour, but in this case the manganese is removed, and
the cobalt rendered as pure as possible. For the manganese if in excess
produces a purplish brown, and its presence in however small a
quantity gives the blue a purple or violet strain. By the simple method
of graduating the amount of manganese which was allowed to remain with
the cobalt the potters were able to obtain many intermediate shades
between dark blue and purple for their monochrome glazes.
The green monochromes are scarcely less numerous than the blue. There
are the transparent greens of apple or leaf green shades whether even
or mottled, which have been described among the glazes applied to the
biscuit and among the enamels of the _famille verte_. These were used
as monochromes and ground colours; and closely akin to them are (1)
the cucumber green (_kua p’i lü_), in which a yellowish leaf green is
heavily mottled with darker tints, and (2) the snake skin green (_shê
p’i lü_), a deep transparent green with iridescent surface, one of the
colours for which the directorate of Ts’ang Ying-hsüan was celebrated.
There are good examples of both in the Salting Collection, but it would
be useless to reproduce them except in colour.
There are the apple and emerald green crackles (in both cases a
green glaze overlying a grey or stone-coloured crackle), but these
have already been discussed.[338] A somewhat similar technique
characterises the series of semi-opaque and crackled green glazes of
camelia leaf, myrtle, spinach, light and dark sage, dull emerald and
several intermediate tints. These are soft-looking glazes with small
but very regular crackle,[339] and their surface often has a “satiny”
sheen which recalls the Yi-hsing glazes. They are evidently glazes
of the _demi-grand feu_, and the colouring agent is doubtless
copper, though apparently modified with other ingredients. How far this
particular group was used in the K’ang Hsi period is hard to say. Most
of the specimens which I have seen give me the impression of a later
make, but as there are a few which might come within the K’ang Hsi
limits I have taken this opportunity to discuss them.
There is one specimen of a rare green in the British Museum to which I
cannot recall a parallel. It is a bowl with the ordinary white glaze,
but covered on the exterior with a very bright yellowish green, like
the young grass with the sun shining on it. It is, perhaps, rather in
the nature of an enamel than a glaze, but the ware has the appearance
of age and should belong to the early part of the K’ang Hsi period.
Most of the green glazes are low fired, melting in the temperature
of the _demi-grand feu_ and the muffle kiln. The high-fired greens
are those of celadon class. There is the _lang yao_[340] green, which
has been discussed under that heading, a crackled glaze, in colour
intermediate between apple green and the sea green celadon, and with a
surface texture hazy with bubbles like the _sang de bœuf_, to which it
is a near relation. This soft and beautiful colour has been described
as a “copper celadon,” and though Dr. Bushell refuses his blessing on
the name it seems to me a particularly happy expression. For the colour
apparently results from the same copper medium which under slightly
different firing conditions produces the _sang de bœuf_ red and at the
same time its tint approaches very nearly to the typical celadon green.
The true celadon glaze was freely employed on the early Ch’ing
porcelains, especially on those of K’ang Hsi and Yung Chêng periods.
It is a beautiful pale olive or sea green colour, made light by the
pure white porcelain beneath which its transparent nature permits to
shine through. Compared with the Sung celadons as we know them,[341]
the Ch’ing dynasty ware is thinner in material and glaze, wanting in
the peculiar solidity of appearance of the ancient wares; the body
is whiter and finer, and the base is usually white with the ordinary
porcelain glaze. There is, moreover, no “brown mouth and iron foot,”
unless indeed this feature has been deliberately added by means of a
dressing of ferruginous clay, a make-up which is too obvious to deceive
the initiated. There were, however, some careful imitations of the
ancient celadons made at this time and got up with the appearance of
antiquity, but these were exceptional productions.[342]
Père d’Entrecolles, writing in 1722, alludes to the K’ang Hsi celadon
in the following terms[343]:--“I was shown this year for the first
time a kind of porcelain which is now in fashion; its colour verges
on olive and they call it _long tsiven_. I saw some which was called
_tsim ko_ (_ch’ing kuo_), the name of a fruit which closely resembles
the olive.” The _long tsiven_ is clearly a transliteration of the
characters which we write _Lung-ch’üan_, the generic name of the old
celadons; but it is odd that Père d’Entrecolles should not have seen
copies of this glaze before 1722, for its use must have been continuous
at Ching-tê Chên from very early times, and we have found reference to
it in various periods of the Ming dynasty. It is evident, however, that
the colour was enjoying a fresh burst of popularity just at this time.
D’Entrecolles gives a few further notes which concern its composition.
His recipe is substantially the same as that given in Chinese works,
viz. a mixture of ferruginous earth, which would contribute a
percentage of iron oxide, with the ordinary glaze.[344] He also states
that _sui yu_ (crackle glaze) was added if a crackled surface was
required, and there are numerous examples of this kind of ware to be
seen. The most familiar are the vases with crackled celadon or grey
green glaze interrupted by bands of biscuit carved with formal patterns
and stained to an iron colour with a dressing of ferruginous earth.
Monster heads with rings (loose or otherwise) serve as twin handles on
these vases, which are designed after bronze models. These crackled
celadons are evidently fashioned after an old model, but they have
been largely imitated in modern times, and almost every pawnbroker’s
window displays a set of execrable copies (often further decorated in
underglaze blue) which are invariably furnished with the Ch’êng Hua
mark incised on a square brown panel under the base.
The yellow monochromes of the K’ang Hsi period are mostly descendants
of the Ming yellows. There is the pale yellow applied over a white
glaze reproducing the yellow of “husked chestnuts,” for which the Hung
Chih (q.v.) porcelains were celebrated; and there is a fuller yellow,
usually of browner shade, applied direct to the biscuit. Yellow is
one of the Imperial colours, the usual tint being a full deep colour
like the yolk of a hen’s egg, and the Imperial wares are commonly
distinguished by five-clawed dragons engraved under the glaze. Other
glazes[345] used on the services made for the Emperor are the purplish
brown (aubergine) and the bright green of camelia leaf tint, which
with the yellow make up the _san ts’ai_ or three colours. In fact
the precise shades of these colours are those used on finer types
of three-colour porcelain[346] with transparent glazes fired in the
temperate part of the great kiln. All these glazes tend to become
iridescent with age.
The colouring medium of the pale yellow is antimony combined with
a proportion of lead, and iron oxide is added to give the glaze an
orange or brown tinge.[347] It is noticeable that the yellow applied
to the biscuit is usually browner in tone. This is the nature, if we
may judge from the excellent coloured illustrations in the Walters
catalogue,[348] of the eel yellow (_shan yü huang_), a brownish colour
of clouded smoky appearance, and one of the few glazes named in the
_T’ao lu_ as a speciality of the directorate of Ts’ang Ying-hsüan.
The other yellow associated with the name of Ts’ang is the “spotted
yellow” (_huang pan t’ien_), discussed on p. 127. Its identification
is uncertain, and Brinkley describes it as “stoneware with a dark
olive green glaze with yellow speckles,” while Bushell (_O. C. A._, p.
317) regards it as a “tiger skin” glaze with large patches of yellow
and green enamel, the same as the _huang lü tien_ (yellow and green
spotted), which he quotes from another context.
All these varieties belong to the _couleurs de demi-grand feu_; but
there are besides several varieties of yellow enamels fired in the
muffle kiln. Of these the transparent yellow was used as a ground
colour in the K’ang Hsi period, but the opaque varieties, such as the
lemon yellow, etc., belong rather to a later period. Among the latter I
should include the crackled mustard yellow, though examples of it have
often been assigned to the K’ang Hsi and even earlier reigns. There is,
for instance, a bottle-shaped vase with two elephant handles in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, which Bushell[349] regarded as a specimen
of the old _mi-sê_ (“millet colour”) glaze of the Sung dynasty. A
careful examination shows that this crackled brownish yellow is made in
much the same fashion as the apple green and the sage green crackles,
viz. a yellow glaze or enamel overlying a stone-coloured crackle. This
is not a Sung technique, but rather an imitative method belonging
perhaps to the Yung Chêng period, when old glazes and archaic shapes
were reproduced with wonderful skill and truth.
There is a solitary specimen of a high-fired glaze of pale buff yellow
colour in the British Museum, which perhaps should be ranked with the
yellow monochromes, though its appearance suggests an exceptional
effect of the pale _tzŭ chin_ or “Nanking yellow” glaze. And a
rare vase in the Peters Collection has a minutely crackled brownish
yellow glaze clouded with dark olive in bold markings like those of
tortoiseshell.
Another Ming monochrome freely used in the K’ang Hsi period is the
lustrous brown (_tzŭ chin_), formed like the celadon by mixing
ferruginous earth called _tzŭ chin shih_ with the ordinary glaze.
Presumably the quantity of this material was greater in the brown glaze
than in the celadon. Père d’Entrecolles describes this glaze in its
diverse shades of bronze, coffee and dead-leaf brown, but he makes the
curious error of proclaiming it a new invention in 1722.[350] He also
refers to its use on the exterior of white cups and as a ground colour
in which white panels were reserved. “On a cup or vase,” he tells us,
“which one wished to glaze with brown, a round or square of damped
paper was applied in one or two places; after the glaze had been laid
on, the paper was peeled off, and the unglazed space was painted in
red or blue. This dry, the usual glaze was applied to the reserve by
blowing or by some other method. Some of the potters fill the blank
spaces with a ground of blue or black, with a view to adding gilt
designs after the first firing.”
There were other methods of decorating these panels, and perhaps
the most familiar is that in which the early _famille rose_
enamels were employed. This combination of brown ground with panels
of floral designs in thick opaque rose red, yellow, white and green
was a favourite with the Dutch exporters. In fact this ware is still
called Batavian, the old catalogue name derived from the Dutch East
Indian settlement of Batavia, which was an entrepot for far-Eastern
merchandise. The date of the Batavian porcelain is clearly indicated by
the transition enamels as late K’ang Hsi.
The _tzŭ chin_ brown was used as a monochrome in all its various shades
from dark coffee colour to pale golden brown, and the lighter and more
transparent shades were sometimes laid over engraved decoration. In
the British Museum there are two candlesticks, the stems of which
with dragon designs in full relief are in an intensely dark _tzŭ
chin_ glaze, so dark, indeed, that the tops have been exactly matched
in the deep brown ware made by Böttger of Dresden about 1710, the
latter polished on the lathe to simulate the lustrous surface of the
Chinese glaze. In the same collection are two saucer dishes of dark
_tzŭ chin_ glaze of fine quality painted with slight floral designs
in silver.[351] This kind of decoration must have been singularly
effective in its original state, but the silver does not stand the test
of time, and though it still firmly adheres its surface has turned
black. An unusual effect is seen on a vase in the Peters collection
which has a lustrous coffee brown glaze passing into olive and clouded
with black; and a very rare specimen in the same collection has a
“leopard skin” glaze of translucent olive brown with large mottling of
opaque coffee brown. The latter piece bears the Wan Li mark.
The lightest shade of this colour is what has been described as Nanking
yellow.[352] It is used as a monochrome or as a ground colour with
panels usually of _famille verte_ enamels, and sometimes with enamelled
decoration applied over the brown glaze itself. It is clear that the
_sui yu_ or crackle glaze was sometimes mixed with the _tzŭ chin_, for
we find many examples of beautiful lustrous brown crackle. They have,
however, in many cases an adventitious tinge of grey or green, for
which the crackle glaze is perhaps responsible.
A near relation to the _tzŭ chin_ (brown gold) glaze is the _wu chin_
(black gold), a lustrous black glaze obtained by mixing a little impure
cobaltiferous ore of manganese (or coarse blue material[353]) with
the _tzŭ chin_ glaze. Like the latter the black is an intensely hard
glaze fired in the full heat of the great kiln, and it has a lustrous
metallic surface which earned for it the name of “mirror black.”[354]
This glaze seems to have really been a K’ang Hsi innovation,[355] and
possibly it was a confusion with this fact which led d’Entrecolles into
his erroneous statement about the date of the lustrous brown.
[Illustration: Plate 112.--Three figures of Birds, late K’ang Hsi
Porcelain, with coloured enamels on the biscuit.
Fig. 1.--Stork. Height 17¼ inches. _British Museum._
Fig. 2.--Hawk. Height 10 inches. _S. E. Kennedy Collection._
Fig. 3.--Cock. Height 13½ inches. _British Museum._]
[Illustration: Plate 113.--Porcelain delicately painted in thin
_famille verte_ enamels. About 1720.
Fig. 1.--Dish with figures of Hsi Wang Mu and attendant. Ch’êng
Hua mark. Diameter 6¾ inches. _Hippisley Collection._
Fig. 2.--Bowl with the Eight Immortals. Diameter 8⅞ inches. _S.
E. Kennedy Collection._]
[Illustration: Plate 114.--Hanging Vase with openwork sides, for
perfumed flowers. _Cumberbatch Collection._
Porcelain painted in late _famille verte_ enamels. About
1720. Blackwood frame. Total height 17 inches.]
The mirror black is usually a monochrome tricked out with gilt
traceries, but as in the case of the powder blue the light Chinese
gilding is usually worn away, and often its quondam presence can now
only be detected by a faint oily film which appears when the porcelain
is held obliquely to the light. It is a common practice to have this
lost gilding replaced by modern work.
There are several large vases of triple-gourd form in the
Charlottenburg Palace with the upper and lower lobes coated with
gilt mirror black, and the central bulb enamelled with _famille
verte_ colours; and another use of the glaze as panel decoration in
a lustrous brown ground has already been noted in an extract from Père
d’Entrecolles; it is also found on rare specimens as a background for
panels of _famille verte_ enamelling. But its most effective use
is as a pure monochrome only relieved by faint gilding, and some of the
choicest K’ang Hsi specimens have soft brown reflexions in the lustre
of the surface. Another and probably a later type of mirror black is a
thick lacquer-like glaze with signs of minute crackle.
There is a type of glaze which, though variegated with many tints,
still belongs to the category of monochromes. This is the _flambé_,
to use the suggestive French term which implies a surface shot with
flame-like streaks of varying colour. This capricious colouring,
the result of some chance action of the fire upon copper oxide in
the glaze, had long been known to the Chinese potters. It appeared
on the Chün Chou wares of the Sung and Yüan dynasties, and it must
have occurred many times on the Ming copper monochromes; but up to
the end of the K’ang Hsi period it seems to have been still more or
less accidental on the Ching-tê Chên porcelain, if we can believe
the circumstantial account written by Père d’Entrecolles in the year
1722[356]:--“I have been shown one of the porcelains which are called
_yao pien_, or transmutation. This transmutation takes place in the
kiln, and results from defective or excessive firing, or perhaps from
other circumstances which are not easy to guess. This specimen which,
according to the workman’s idea, is a failure and the child of pure
chance, is none the less beautiful, and none the less valued. The
potter had set out to make vases of _soufflé_ red. A hundred pieces
were entirely spoilt, and the specimen in question came from the kiln
with the appearance of a sort of agate. Were they but willing to take
the risk and the expense of successive experiments, the potters would
eventually discover the secret of making with certainty that which
chance has produced in this solitary case. This is the way they learnt
to make porcelain with the brilliant black glaze called _ou kim_ (_wu
chin_); the caprice of the kiln determined this research, and the
result was successful.”
It is interesting to read how this specimen of _flambé_ resulted from
the misfiring of a copper red glaze, no doubt a _sang de bœuf_; for in
the most common type of _flambé_ red (see Plate 123, Fig. 1) passages
of rich _sang de bœuf_ emerge from the welter of mingled grey, blue and
purple tints. The last part of d’Entrecolles’ note was prophetic, for
in the succeeding reigns the potters were able to produce the _flambé_
glaze at will.
There are, besides, many other strangely coloured glazes which can
only be explained as misfired monochromes of the _grand feu_, those
of mulberry colour, slaty purple, and the like, most of which were
probably intended for maroon or liver red, but were altered by some
caprice of the fire. But it would be useless to enumerate these erratic
tints, which are easily recognised by their divergence from the normal
ceramic colours.
The French have always been partial to monochrome porcelains. In the
eighteenth century they bought them eagerly to decorate their hotels
and châteaux, and enshrined them in costly metal mounts. But as the
style of the mounting, rococo in the early part of the century,
neo-classical in the latter part, was designed to match the furniture
of the period, the oriental shapes were often sacrificed to the
European fashion. Dark blue and celadon green were favourite colours,
if we may judge by surviving examples, and to-day enormous prices are
paid for Chinese monochromes fitted with French ormolu mounts by the
Court goldsmiths, such as Gouthière, Caffieri, and the rest.[357]
But these richly mounted pieces have more interest as furniture and
metal work, and the ceramophile regards them askance for their foreign
and incongruous trappings, which disturb the pure enjoyment of the
porcelain.[358]
It remains to consider the white porcelain, that is to say the
porcelain which was intended to remain white and undecorated with any
form of colouring. White was the colour used by the Court in times
of mourning, and large services of white porcelain were made for the
Emperor on these occasions. But it is not to be supposed that all the
beautiful white wares were made solely for this purpose.[359] They
have always been highly esteemed by the Chinese from the early Ming
times, when the Yung Lo bowls and the white altar cups of Hsüan Tê were
celebrated among porcelains, down to the present day. Many exquisite
whites were made in the early reigns of the Ch’ing dynasty, and as with
so many of the perennial monochromes their exact dating is full of
difficulty. We are not concerned here with the _blanc de chine_
or white porcelain of Tê-hua in Fukien, which has already been
discussed, but with the white of Ching-tê Chên, the glaze of which is
distinguished from the former by its harder appearance, and its bluish
or greenish tinge.
The latter was made to perfection in the K’ang Hsi period. Having no
colours to distract the eye from surface blemishes, nothing short of
absolute purity could satisfy the critic. In choice specimens the paste
was fine, white and unctuous, the glaze clear, flawless, and of oily
lustre,[360] the form was elegant and the potting true. Such pieces
without blemish or flaw are the very flower of porcelain, whether they
be of eggshell thinness (_t’o t’ai_), half eggshell (_pan t’o t’ai_),
or of the substance of ordinary wares.
But though innocent of colour the white porcelain was rarely without
decoration. The finest Imperial services were usually delicately etched
under the glaze with scarcely visible dragon designs. Other kinds have
the ornament strongly cut, such as the eggshell cups and saucers with
patterns of hibiscus, lotus, or chrysanthemum petals firmly outlined,
or the vases with full-bodied designs in low relief obtained by carving
away the ground surrounding the pattern.[361] Others have faint
traceries or thickly painted patterns in white slip, in steatite,[362]
or in fibrous gypsum under the glaze. A fuller relief was obtained by
pressing in deeply cut moulds or by applying strips and shavings of
the body clay, and working them into designs with a wet brush after
the manner of the modern _pâte sur pâte_. There are still higher
reliefs in K’ang Hsi porcelain, figures, and symbolical ornaments,
formed separately in moulds and “luted” on to the ware with liquid
clay, but these generally appeared on the enamelled wares, and are
themselves coloured. The applied reliefs on the white wares are usually
in unglazed biscuit, and there are, besides, pierced and channelled
patterns, but these processes have been fully described among the late
Ming wares,[363] and nothing further need be said of them, except that
they were employed with supreme skill and refinement by the K’ang Hsi
potters. Père d’Entrecolles[364] alludes to these perforated wares in
the following passage:--“They make here (i.e. at Ching-tê Chên) another
kind of porcelain which I have never yet seen. It is all pierced _à
jour_ like fretwork, and inside is a cup to hold the liquid. The cup
and the fretwork are all in one piece.” Wares of various kinds with
solid inner lining and pierced outer casing are not uncommon in Chinese
porcelain and pottery. Sometimes, however, the cups are completed
without the inner shell, like Fig. 2, of Plate 78, which could be
fitted with a silver lining if required to hold liquid.
Objects entirely biscuit are exceptional. There are, however, two small
Buddhistic figures, and two lions of this class in the British Museum,
and curiously enough both are stamped with potter’s marks, which is
itself a rare occurrence on porcelain. The former bear the name of
Chang Ming-kao and the latter of Ch’ên Mu-chih (see vol. i., page 223).
Bushell[365] tells us that the Chinese call biscuit porcelain _fan
tz’ŭ_ (turned porcelain), a quaint conception which implies that
the ware is turned inside out, as though the glaze were inside, and
the body out; and this illusion is occasionally kept up by applying a
touch of glaze inside the mouth of the unglazed vessel.
Biscuit porcelain is specially suitable for figure modelling, because
the sharpness of the details remains unobscured by glaze. It has been
largely employed in European porcelain factories for this purpose, but
the Chinese seem to have been prejudiced against this exclusive use of
the material. As a rule they reserve it for the fleshy parts of their
figures, giving the draperies a coating of glaze or of enamel or both.
A rare example of the use of biscuit is illustrated in the catalogue of
the Walters Collection (_O. C. A._, Plate XXIX.), a white bottle
with a dragon carved out of the glaze and left in biscuit.
The white wares so far described were made of the ordinary porcelain
body and glaze, but there is another group of whites which is ranked
with the so-called “soft pastes.” This is a creamy, opaque and often
earthy-looking ware, the glaze of which is almost always crackled.
It is in fact an imitation of the old Ting yao (q.v.), and its
soft-looking surface and warm creamy tone are seen to perfection in
small vases, snuff bottles, and ornamental wares. Indeed, the elegantly
shaped and finely potted vessels of this soft, ivory crackle are among
the gems of the period.
Crackle is a feature which is common to many of the monochromes, and
incidental mention has frequently been made of it in the preceding
pages. It is essentially a Chinese phenomenon, dating back to the Sung
dynasty, and there are various accounts of the methods employed to
produce it. We are speaking of the intentional crackle which is clearly
defined and usually accentuated by some colouring matter rubbed into
the cracks, as opposed to the accidental crazing which appears sooner
or later on most of the glazes of the _demi grand feu_, and on many
low-fired enamels. One crackling process used by the Sung potters has
been described on p. 99, vol. i. Another method is mentioned in the
K’ang Hsi Encyclopædia,[366] viz. to heat the unglazed ware as much as
possible in the sun, then plunge it into pure water. By this means a
crackle was produced on the ware after the firing.
But the normal process in the Ch’ing dynasty seems to have been to
mix a certain ingredient with the glaze which produced a crackle when
fired. There are constant references to this ingredient under the name
of _sui yu_ (crackle glaze) in the letters of Père d’Entrecolles in
connection with various monochromes, and in the first letter,[367] the
following definite account appears:--“It is to be observed that when
no other glaze but that composed of white pebbles[368] is added to the
porcelain, the ware turns out to be of a special kind known as _tsoui
ki_ (_sui ch’i_ = crackled ware). It is marbled all over and split up
in every direction into a infinite number of veins. At a distance it
might be taken for broken porcelain, all the fragments of which have
remained in place. It is like mosaic work. The colour produced by this
glaze is a slightly ashen white.”
The effect of this ingredient of the glaze whatever its composition may
have been is easily understood. All porcelain and pottery undergoes a
considerable amount of contraction--from loss of moisture, etc.--in
the kiln, and to obtain a perfectly even glaze it is necessary that
the contraction of the glaze should be the same as that of the body.
Clearly this ingredient caused the glaze to contract to a greater
extent than the body, and so to split up into minute fissures. The
Chinese were able to control to a great extent the size and nature of
the crackle, as is shown by the appearance of alternate bands of large
and small crackle on the same piece. The methods of colouring the
crackle include rubbing red ochre, ink, and decoction of tea leaves
into the cracks before the ware was quite cool. Another method is
described by Bushell (_O. C. A._, p. 511) by which a white crackled
ware was stained pink or crimson. The vessel was held in the fire in an
iron cage until thoroughly heated, and then water mixed with gold-pink
colouring matter was blown on to it. This, however, is a later process.
Most of the monochrome glazes are occasionally crackled, but the most
characteristic colours of the crackle glazes are the greyish white (the
_blanc un peu cendré_ of Père d’Entrecolles), and light buff, which
were probably intended to recall the ash colour (_hui sê_) and the
millet colour (_mi sê_) of the Sung _Ko yao_. Some of the light buff or
“oatmeal” crackles of the early Ch’ing period are peculiarly refined
and beautiful.
Though this has seemed a favourable opportunity for discussing crackle
glazes it is not to be supposed that they were a speciality of the
K’ang Hsi period. They are common to every age since the Sung dynasty,
and probably they were never made in such abundance and with such care
as in the Yung Chêng and early Ch’ien Lung periods.