CHINESE WHITE PORCELAIN
M. Gasnault, the friend and pupil of M. Jacquemart, has put on record
the results of their united work in the Museum at Limoges. The
collector is able to see how he has tried to reconcile and combine the
elements of a complete history of Oriental china, how he has collected
specimens of all the manufactures, even the smallest, how Oriental
porcelain holds the first place in the collection, being represented
by most remarkable specimens of industry which in the Celestial Empire
to-day is on the decline, after having had a brilliant career through
so many ages, that it seemed as if nothing could have led to its
failure.
If the Chinese have not yet returned to that state where they have
forgotten entirely the art of making porcelain, at least they have
lost the secret of those admirable productions--the forms so pure,
the glazes so marvellous, the enamels so sparkling, the decoration so
diversified, and the paintings so exquisite--which remained with us as
monuments of an age when there must have been such art in the Ceramic
world as has never been seen since. It will be advantageous to say
something about the collections at Limoges and the lessons we may learn
from them. The first place in the collection is given to the white
china known throughout the world as "_blanc de chine_." This kind of
porcelain was highly esteemed in France, and the Oriental artists and
potters from a material which seemed to offer but little resource
proceeded to work wonders. By the side of the small sacrificial cups
destined for religious uses with the glassy glaze and a tone which
recalls that of wax or ivory, in the form of the horn of the rhinoceros
or of the flowers of the lotus, which was the plant pre-eminently
sacred, one is able to admire examples perfect in execution of which
the texture is so thin and fine that it seems dangerous even to touch
them. The greater part is decorated with ornaments in white or in white
slip, which by a few simple strokes, or by a delicate tracery, almost
inconceivably beautifies the limited surface. Garlands and detached
bouquets of flowers have been engraved upon the wet or the dry clay so
finely--indeed, so exquisitely, that they cannot be seen unless held
up to the light. Here the sacred dragon winds round the cup as if he
wished to defend it from profane hands, and a Buddhist god only appears
when a coloured liquid is poured into the cup, which then shows up the
lines, before invisible, engraved in the paste.
Again, we find little bottles decorated with dragons and symbolical
dogs of Fô or Buddha cut deeply into the paste with a patience and
an art unequalled in the productions of the Western Hemisphere. The
statuettes of the gods and goddesses are also made in this white
porcelain, amongst whom is one to whom we have before referred,
Kwan-Yin, a mysterious being, the personification of mercy and
goodness, who protects the sailors and saves them from shipwreck, who
takes pity on those who suffer in hell and intercedes for them. She
also gives children to those who are sterile.
Kwan-Yin has many attributes and emblems. Sometimes she has a diadem
on her head ornamented with images of Buddha, or she rests seated on
a throne of lotus in memory of the miraculous bridge which the gods
constructed to enable her to cross the sea. The god of riches is often
found as a white statuette, so is Poutai, the god of contentment, with
a broad smile and round, uncovered stomach; Cheou, or Chow, the god of
longevity, with an enormous bald head. Other figures of emperors and
empresses are all of the same type, with the accompanying Ho-Ho birds.
[Illustration: KWAN-YIN. WHITE PORCELAIN.]
Amongst the finest white porcelain is one kind having a hard and
compact paste which lends itself easily to the mould, but is not
suitable to the turning wheel. Nearly all the pieces of this ware are
moulded into figures, incense burners, &c., and on looking into the
interior the roughness and unevenness of the paste can be easily seen,
even the marks left by the fingers of the workmen are quite plain,
whilst the bottom always preserves the imprint of the canvas on which
these pieces are placed after having been moulded. Then there is a
white biscuit class, very rare, often having two walls or divisions,
of which the outer one only is biscuit, reticulated or pierced with a
fine network or trellis of various patterns, through which the interior
wall can be seen. Amongst the trellis many Chinese characters are to be
found, such as the emblem of longevity, the mark called Cheou, Chow, or
Show. We shall have more to say of reticulated porcelain later on, but
here we may mention that the reticulation on the outer wall is often
elaborate, and the cover glazes give a variety of colours equal to that
found upon ordinary china. The whole white porcelain family, whether
we consider the beautiful creamy ivory ware, or the dead white, or the
blue tinged white, is rarely marked, and when a mark is used generally
it is a seal character moulded or cut in the paste. A very rare form
of decoration is met with in white, but only occasionally. The surface
is covered with minute white points like the points shown in shagreen,
only it is not green, but white. Such china has been termed "_chair de
poule_," or chicken skin. It may be noticed that these points are not
enamelled, either because they were applied upon the glaze or because
the enamel ran off them in the firing.
XIV
SINGLE
OR SELF-COLOUR
GLAZES