In China, as in every other country where pottery-making has been
practised for centuries, we find a natural progression from primitive
pottery akin in shape, decoration and manufacture to the pottery of
other primitive races the world over. We find too the early use of
bricks, tiles, &c., as in Egypt and Assyria; and then the usual
succession of domestic utensils, funeral vases, and vessels for
religious ceremonials. There is nothing to show that the potter's wheel
made its appearance in China earlier than elsewhere, and the Chinese
potters have used the simple methods of carving and "pressing" from
moulds which preceded the use of the potter's wheel, even more than
other nations. In books of the Chow dynasty (1122-249 B.C.) the
difference between the processes of "throwing" and of "pressing" from
moulds is clearly described,[27] and it is instructive to note that many
early as well as late forms of Chinese pottery are remarkably like their
works in bronze. In the same way there is no definite date to which we
can refer the introduction of glazed pottery. The earliest specimens of
glazed ware known are referred by the Chinese to the times of the Han
dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), a date much later than that of the
earliest glazed wares of Egypt and Assyria. Remembering the intercourse
between China and the West, at times historically remote, it is not
impossible that the idea of coating a vessel of clay with a glaze was
carried into China from Chaldaea or Assyria. In any case the Chinese
developed the potter's art on their own lines, for we have ample
evidence that from very early times they fired their pottery to a much
higher temperature than was common in the west of Asia, and so
discovered types of glaze and of pottery that remained for centuries a
mystery elsewhere. The glazed wares of the Han dynasty already mentioned
are quite unlike any contemporary pottery produced in Syria, Egypt or
Europe, for the body of the ware is so hard that it can scarcely be
scratched by a knife, and the dark-greenish glaze has become iridescent
by age as though it contained oxide of lead. The easily-fired friable
wares of Assyria, Egypt and Greece seem to have had no attraction for
the Chinese, and the glazes on their hard-fired wares were naturally
different from those already described. The Chinese appear to have been
the first potters in the world to discover that at a sufficiently high
temperature pottery can be glazed with powdered felspathic rock mixed
with lime. At first these glazes were used on any ordinary refractory
clay which might burn red, drab or buff; but in this technique lay the
germ of Chinese porcelain, the most advanced form of pottery the world
has yet seen. It is necessary to consider the pottery that preceded
porcelain, for not only was it the matrix out of which porcelain grew,
but in certain districts of China, where the necessary materials for
porcelain are not found, similar wares have been manufactured without
intermission to the present time. Naturally, in progress of time, the
technique of this pottery has been greatly improved, both by
developments in the preparation and mixture of the clays, the shaping
and modelling of the wares, the introduction of coloured enamels or
glazes, and the like. Dr Bushell, who is our great authority on the
Chinese arts and handicrafts, rightly seizes on two outstanding types of
Chinese pottery other than porcelain which have exercised considerable
influence on the doings of European potters.
1: _Yi-Hsing-Yao_.[28]--This is the pottery, generally of unglazed
fawn, red or brown stoneware, made at Yi-hsing-hsien in the province
of Kiang-su. Articles of every kind are made in these fine-coloured
clays, but the general forms are dainty and skilfully finished pieces,
such as small teapots, cups, saucers, dishes, trays, water-bottles and
wine cups. This ware was largely manufactured under the Ming dynasty
(A.D. 1368-1643) and later.[29] It was imported into Europe by the
Portuguese, who applied to it the name _boccaro_, formerly given only
to a scented terra-cotta brought from Mexico and Peru.[30] This
pottery and Chinese porcelain were wide asunder as the poles in nature
as well as origin, but the potters of northern Europe regarded every
kind of pottery coming from the Far East as a species of porcelain,
and the manufacture of red teapots, mugs, bowls, cups, &c., in
imitation of the Yi-Hsing-Yao was widespread during the late 17th and
early 18th centuries under the name of red porcelain. Dwight, Elers
and Böttger are notable names in this connexion.
2. _Kuang-Yao_.--The name given by the Chinese to the pottery made in
the province of Kwang-tung. There are several centres of manufacture
in this extensive province, but for the purposes of this article it is
sufficient to state that the best-known of these wares are dense,
hard-fired and glazed stonewares, which are always dark-coloured grey,
red, brown or blackish. They are usually glazed with thick, variegated
or opalescent glazes, grey, blue, green, yellow or red, but flecked,
veined and streaked with other tints. The wares are so like the
productions of the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) that modern pieces are
often confounded with the more precious productions of that epoch. One
of the first lessons to be learnt by the student of Chinese pottery is
that, with great reverence for their own antiquities, the Chinese of
every period have endeavoured to reproduce the famous wares of their
ancestors, and often with such skill as to deceive the most expert.
Even when the manufacture of porcelain was at its highest in
King-tê-chên, the potters in other parts of China carried on the
production of glazed or unglazed pottery in coloured clays, and,
further, the directors of the imperial factory from time to time
strove to reproduce the most archaic wares that could be found in the
Empire.
[Illustration: PLATE VII
Chinese. Sang de Boeuf.
Chinese. Flambé.