LUNG-CH´ÜAN YAO [Chinese]
IN discussing the celebrated Lung-ch´üan celadons, we are able to build
our structure on a more solid basis. For one group of them, at any
rate, is so familiar that we should be tempted to abandon the difficult
Chinese descriptions and construct an essay on the ware from actually
existing specimens, were it not that in so doing we should miss our chief
opportunity of applying a living test to the Chinese phrases.
The district of Lung-ch´üan in the prefecture of Ch´u-chou, province of
Chekiang, was noted for its potteries as early[154] as the beginning
of the Sung dynasty, but its greatest celebrity was attained by the
market town of Liu-t´ien, where the Chang brothers are reputed to have
worked.[155] The story that the elder Chang moved to Liu-t´ien while
the younger brother remained at Lung-ch´üan is, I believe, based on a
misreading of a Chinese passage,[156] the true meaning of which seems to
be that while the elder brother made new departures which earned for his
ware the distinctive name of Ko yao, the younger continued the Lung-ch´üan
traditions, and consequently his ware was known as Lung-ch´üan yao. It
appears that one vital difference between the two wares was crackle, which
was used by the elder and not by the younger brother.
The productions of the Lung-ch´üan district are variously named in the
_Ko ku yao lun_, "_Ch´u_ ware" (from Ch´u-chou Fu, the name of the
prefecture), "_ch´ing_ ware," and "old _ch´ing_ ware," and the various
Chinese accounts agree in distinguishing two broad classes, the one having
a thin body of fine material, and the other a thick body of coarser and
heavier make.
The first of these two classes includes the Chang yao, or ware of the
younger Chang, of which the _Ch´ing pi ts´ang_ gives the following
description: "There is one kind in the manufacture of which white clay
is used, and the surface of the ware is covered with _ts´ui_[157] glaze
through which the white shows in faint patches. This is what was made by
the Chang family in the Sung dynasty, and is called Chang yao. Compared
with the Lung-ch´üan ware in style and make, it gives the impression of
greater delicacy and refinement." Another writer[158] describes it as
"single-coloured and pure, like beautiful jade, and ranking with the Kuan
yao; whereas the Ko yao was pale in colour."
The eleven examples figured and described in Hsiang's Album are all
apparently of this class, and their colour is variously described as
"green, of jade-green tint (_ts´ui pi_), like a wet, mossy bank or slender
willow twigs," "green like the green of onion (sprouts)" (_ts´ui jo ch´ing
ts´ung_), "green like parrot's feathers," "green like the dull green
(_lü_) of a melon," and "soft jade-green like onion sprouts in autumn."
Hsiang's similes leave no doubt as to the prevailing tint of the ware,
which clearly aimed at rivalling the tint of the prized green jade. As
might be expected, few if any of Chang's celadons are to be found in our
collections. Relatively few in numbers, assuming them to have been the
work of one lifetime, and slender in structure, it is improbable that many
of them can have survived the chances of eight or nine hundred years, and
even supposing that any of them have reached Europe, their identity now
could only be a matter of conjecture.
The second class is best known to us in those thick, massive porcelains
with greyish white body and smooth grey green glaze which have been named
in Persian countries _martabani_ and in Europe _celadon_. The former name
is no doubt derived from the port of Martaban, on the coast of Pegu, a
meeting place of Eastern and Western traders, from which the Chinese goods
were shipped or transhipped for Europe and the nearer East. The latter
name has a more capricious origin, deriving from the shepherd Céladon, a
stage personality whose familiar grey green clothing suggested a name for
the grey green porcelain. He appeared in one of the plays founded on the
early seventeenth-century romance, _L'Astrée_, written by Honoré d'Urfé.
Large dishes and plates, bowls, vases, bulb bowls and jars of this green
ware have found their way to all parts of Europe in considerable numbers,
and they evidently formed a staple of far Eastern trade in the Middle
Ages. The subject of their distribution will be treated presently. First,
we must complete their description.
The ware, as a general rule, has a greyish white mass varying from
porcelain to stoneware, and with the peculiar quality of assuming a
reddish brown tint wherever the glaze is absent and the "biscuit" was
exposed to the fire of the kiln. It has, in fact, the "iron foot" though
not the "brown mouth," for the body is of a whitish colour under the
glaze, and consequently the mouth of the vessel varies from green to
greenish white, according to the thickness of the glaze. The decoration
is either carved, etched with fine point, or raised in relief by pressing
in an intaglio mould or by the application of small ornaments separately
formed in moulds. All these processes are applied to the body before the
glaze is added, and the glaze, though covering them over, is transparent
enough to allow the details to appear fairly distinctly. In the case of
the applied reliefs, however, the glaze is often locally omitted, and the
ornaments stand out in biscuit, which has assumed the usual reddish brown
tint. This is well illustrated on Plate 21, in which two brown fishes are
represented swimming round a sea green dish. A dish in the British Museum
shows three fishes swimming beneath the green surface of the glaze. This
fish design was frequent enough to have earned special notice in Chinese
books, which are excessively niggard in their enumeration of designs. The
_Ko ku yao lun_,[159] for instance, says "there is one kind of dish on the
bottom of which is a pair of fishes, and on the outside are copper rings
attached to lift it."
Elaborate designs of flowers, flying phœnixes in peony scrolls, dragons in
clouds or waves, formed in relief by pressure in moulds, were certainly
used on Sung celadons just as they were in the white Ting wares, but
they seem to have been still more common on the Ming wares. But the
best and most characteristic Sung decoration was a beautiful freehand
carving executed with admirable spirit and taste, in those bold, half
naturalistic, half idealised sketches which distinguish the art of
the time. Complex ornament, such as landscape and figure subjects, is
occasionally found on old celadons; and there is one kind of bowl of
rounded form with rather high narrow foot which is decorated inside with
groups of figures carved or impressed in intaglio, the subjects being
the eight Taoist Immortals, or historical personages such as Confucius,
the chess-playing General, etc., usually labelled with their names in
Chinese characters. The glaze on these bowls varies widely in colour and
texture, being sometimes smooth celadon green, sometimes yellowish or
brownish green or again a pale apple green with crackled surface; and it
is possible that they come from some district other than Lung-ch´üan.[160]
The Lung-ch´üan celadon glaze is singularly beautiful with its soft,
smooth translucent texture and restful tints, which vary from olive green
through grass green and sea green to pale greenish grey, occasionally
showing a decidedly bluish tone. The ware has enjoyed immense popularity
in almost every part of the world for untold years, and nowhere more than
in Japan, where choice specimens have always been highly valued, and it
is not a little surprising to find that in this country alone its merits
are underestimated. The Chinese themselves have been always loud in their
praises of the finer varieties, though they have not always spoken in
complimentary terms of the thick and massive types which were so suitable
for the export trade. Of these the _Ch´ing pi ts´ang_ observes that they
readily withstand usage and handling, and do not easily break; but the
workmanship is somewhat clumsy, and the designs are lacking in antique
elegance. With the finer examples within reach, these strictures were
perhaps only natural; but there has never been any doubt of the Chinese
appreciation of the celadon glaze, for while they have never ceased to
reproduce it in other factories, it is always the old Lung-ch´üan ware
which serves as their standard and model.
The modern celadon glaze is made by mixing ferruginous clay with the
ordinary feldspathic glaze and adding a pinch of cobalt (the mineral from
which the blue colour is obtained) to give it the requisite tone[161];
and it is certain that the colour of the old celadons is due to the
presence of oxide of iron, whether assisted or not by oxide of cobalt.
Possibly the earliest celadons were the accidental result of the iron in a
strongly ferruginous clay escaping in the heat of the kiln and imparting
a green tinge to an otherwise colourless glaze. The conditions in the
Lung-ch´üan district would have specially favoured such an accident,
for the local clays were of the ferruginous kind, as is shown by their
peculiarity, which we have already noted, of turning red or reddish brown
when exposed without protection to the heat of the kiln. The presence of
iron in greater or less quantity is a common feature of potter's clays
all the world over, and it is usual in modern potteries to pass the clay
over strong magnets in order to remove this disturbing element when a
pure white ware is in view. This fact alone will explain the prevalence
of green tints of the celadon type among the earlier Chinese wares, and
observation of these results would naturally lead to the discovery that a
certain quantity of particular clay mixed with the ordinary glaze would
produce a beautiful green colour, resembling jade. The reddish brown spots
occasionally observed in old celadon glazes are no doubt due to flaws in
the glaze-covering, which allowed a partial exposure of the body, or to
a local excess of iron oxide in the material. Like a great many other
accidental effects, these were turned to account by the Chinese, and in
some examples we find patches of brown which evince a deliberate intention
(Plate 21). These effects are highly prized by the Japanese, who call the
ware _Tobi seiji_ or "spotted celadon."
The manufacture of celadon must have been very extensive in the
Lung-ch´üan district. Besides the principal factories at Liu-t´ien Shih,
there were minor works at Chin-ts´un already mentioned, and according to
the _T´ao lu_[162] at Li-shui Hsien[163] in the Ch´u-chou Fu, the latter
already operative in the Sung dynasty. Its wares were included in the
comprehensive term _Ch´u yao_, and "the material was coarse and thick, the
colour similar to that of Lung-ch´üan ware, both dark and light, but the
workmanship was coarser."
At the beginning of the Ming dynasty, we are told[164] that the
Lung-ch´üan factories were removed to Ch´u-chou, and that the ware made on
the new site was green (_ch´ing_), with a white body which, like the older
ware, assumed a red colour in the exposed parts, but that the ware was not
so good as the old. Local tradition asserts that the celadon industry in
the district came to an end with the Ming dynasty.[165]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Plate 21.--Three examples of Lung-ch´üan Celadon Porcelain.
Fig. 1.--Plate of spotted celadon. (?) Sung dynasty. Diameter 6½
inches. _Eumorfopoulos Collection._
Fig. 2.--Octagonal Vase with crackled glaze and biscuit panels moulded
with figures of the Eight Immortals in clouds. (?) Fourteenth century.
Height 9¼ inches. _Eumorfopoulos Collection._
Fig. 3.--Dish with engraved lotus scrolls and two fishes in biscuit. Sung
dynasty. Diameter 11 inches. _Gotha Museum._]
Connoisseurs are much exercised over the differences between Sung and Ming
celadons. The _T´ao lu_ tells us nothing beyond the bare statement that
the Ming ware was not so good, and the two general rules which have been
laid down[166] for our guidance--viz. (1) that the colour of the Sung
wares is deeper and more grass green, that of the Ming more grey green,
and (2) that the bottoms of the Ming vessels are distinguished by an
unglazed ring of reddish brown colour--can only be accepted with reserve.
Of the two the colour test is probably the more reliable, but I have found
too many exceptions in which the grey green occurs on pieces of obviously
Sung origin to feel any great confidence in its guidance. The ring test
breaks down in practice, and is illogical in its conception, implying,
as it does, that the use of a circular support in the kiln was limited
to one particular place and period. On the contrary, we know that this
method of support was usual in the Siamese factories at Sawankalok,[167]
and apparently before the Ming period, and as the Siamese potteries were
started by Chinese, probably sent from Western China, it is only fair to
suppose that this method of manufacture was in general use at an early
date. The safest criterion of Sung workmanship is the style of the ware,
and especially the boldness and freedom of the carved designs. In the
Ming period the Sung patterns already exhibit an inevitable staleness and
conventionality with a tendency to overcrowding of detail. In some cases,
too, the designs are of a later order, and closely analogous to those of
the blue and white Ming porcelains.
In addition to the Lung-ch´üan and Ch´u-chou celadons, which are readily
recognised by their peculiar glaze and their reddish brown foot rims,
there are many other kinds which are not easy to classify. Some of these
have a dry, buff stoneware body and brownish green glaze, while others
have a glaze of decided grey or blue grey tone. In conjecturing the
origin of these we must take into consideration the private factories
which existed under the Northern Sung at Ch´ên-liu[168] and other
localities in the neighbourhood of the eastern capital (_tung ching_),
now named K´ai-fêng Fu, in Honan. The _Ko ku yao lun_[169] describes the
ware of these parts under the heading _Tung yao_[170]: "It is pale green
(_ch´ing_) in colour, with fine crackle, and in many cases has a brown
mouth and iron foot. Compared with Kuan ware it lacks the red tinge, and
its material is coarse, wanting in fineness and lustre, and far from
equalling that of the Kuan ware. At the present day (i.e. 1887) it is
rarely seen." Other writers repeat this passage with little alteration,
though the author of the _T´ao lu_ adds that the clay was of black colour
and the glaze of varying depth. Hsiang's Album includes one specimen of
the _tung ch´ing tz´ŭ_, describing the colour as _t´ieh ts´ui_, which
probably means the blue green shade of distant hills.[171] _Tung ch´ing_
glaze is included in the list of those imitated in the Imperial factories
about 1780, two kinds, pale and deep, being specified; and the _T´ao
lu_[172] informs us that the _Tung ch´ing_ was copied to a considerable
extent at Ching-tê Chên in the early nineteenth century, and that the
modern glaze was exactly like the old. That this modern glaze was only a
variety of celadon is shown by the recipe given in the same work,[173]
viz. "to add to the ordinary glaze some of the mixture containing
ferruginous earth," which differs from that given for the modern
Lung-ch´üan glaze only in the absence of the pinch of cobalt (see vol ii.,
p. 189).
A verse from a poem by Chang-lei (1046-1106) indicates the green colour of
the ware: "Green jade (_pi yü_) when carved makes a vessel; know it to be
the porcelain (_tz´ŭ_) of the Tung kilns [Chinese]."[174]
In the classification of old celadons due account must be taken of the
imitations made from the earliest times at Ching-tê Chên. Many of these
would be distinguishable by their white porcelain body, the ordinary
porcelain clay of the district not having the peculiar qualities of the
Lung-ch´üan and Ch´u-chou Fu material. In fact, we know that it has been a
common practice in recent times among the Ching-tê Chên potters to dress
the exposed parts of their ware with brown ferruginous earth when they
wished to reproduce the "brown mouth or iron foot" of the archaic wares.
Another method which was found effective by imitators of the antique was
to use a coarse yellowish clay for the body of the ware. This, however,
should be generally recognisable. But the skill of the Chinese copyist
is proverbial, and a good instance of his cunning is given in the now
celebrated letters of Père d'Entrecolles, a Jesuit missionary stationed
at Ching-tê Chên in the K´ang Hsi period. The passage[175] is interesting
enough to be quoted in full:
"The mandarin of _Kim tê Chim_, who honours me with his friendship, makes
for his patrons at the Court presents of old porcelain which he has
himself a genius for fabricating. I mean that he has discovered the art of
imitating antique porcelain, or at least that of comparative antiquity;
and he employs a number of workmen for this purpose. The material of these
false _Kou tom_, viz. counterfeit antiques, is a yellowish clay, obtained
in a place quite near _Kim tê Chim_, called _Ma ngan chan_. They are
constructed very thick. The mandarin has given me a plate of this make,
which weighs as much as ten ordinary plates. There is nothing peculiar in
the manufacture of these kinds of porcelain beyond that they are covered
with a glaze made of yellow stone, mingled with the ordinary glaze, the
latter predominating in the mixture, which gives the porcelain a sea green
colour. When it is fired it is placed in a very rich broth made of chicken
and other meats; in this it is baked a second time, and after that it is
put in the foulest drain that can be found and left for a month or more.
On issuing from this drain it passes for three or four hundred years old,
or at any rate for a representative of the preceding Ming dynasty, when
porcelain of this colour and thickness was appreciated at Court. These
counterfeit antiques resemble the genuine pieces also in their want of
timbre when struck, and if one holds them to the ear they produce no
reverberation."
The worthy father's acquaintance with the antiques was probably limited,
or he would not have instanced the last quality as evidence of good
imitation. On the contrary, the lack of timbre would be regarded by
Chinese connoisseurs as indication of a spurious ware, the note of the old
porcelains being one of the criteria of their excellence. But the passage
is otherwise most instructive.
It should be remembered, too, that at the time of which d'Entrecolles
speaks, an extensive use was being made at Ching-tê Chên of a beautiful
celadon glaze on a fine white porcelain body. These celadons of the period
will be discussed in their proper place, as they make no pretence of
antiquity and are easily distinguished by their pure white body and pale
soft green glaze. Indeed, they often have the ordinary white glaze under
the base and a period mark in blue.
Another factory which made free use of the celadon glaze was that of Yang
Chiang, province of Kuangtung. As a rule, the ware is recognisable by its
reddish brown stoneware body, but in cases where the biscuit is lighter in
colour and more porcellanous in texture, confusion may easily arise.
Nor must we forget the extensive manufacture of celadons outside China
itself. The Corean wares have already been mentioned. As a rule, their
soft velvety glaze is recognised by its peculiar bluish grey tone,
difficult to describe but easy to remember when once seen. The colour,
however, varies to distinctly greener and browner shades, which are liable
to be confused with Chinese celadons of the Lung-ch´üan and northern
types. Fortunately, most, though not all, of the Corean decorations are
very characteristic, particularly the delicate inlaid designs[176] in
white and black clays; and the finish of the ware underneath is usually
distinctive, a very low foot rim, the base slightly convex, and the
disfiguring presence of the sand, which in three little piles supported
the ware in the kiln.
There are, however, quite a number of ambiguous celadons with a brownish
green glaze, usually bowls, of which some are decorated inside with
beautiful carved and moulded designs of bold foliage (Plate 18, Fig. 1)
and even with the design of boys among flowering branches and the slight
combed patterns which are found on the Corean white wares. Were it not
for the apparently Chinese provenance of so many of these bowls, and the
absence of the Corean characteristics in their bases, one would be tempted
to class them as Corean on the strength of their general appearance.
Probably we have in this group both the Chinese prototypes and the close
imitations made by the Corean potters who followed these models just
as they followed the white ware of Ting Chou. One of the combed bowls
formerly treasured as a tea bowl in Japan is now in the Kunstgewerbe
Museum, Berlin, but unfortunately the Japanese name _shuko-yaki_, by
which Dr. Kümmel informs me it was known in Japan, sheds no light on the
question of its origin.
The Sawankalok wares of Siam, too, have already had a passing mention.
These are easily distinguished by their coarse grey body, reddish at the
base, and thin, watery green glaze, very transparent and showing a bluish
efflorescence where it has run thick. Once seen, they are hardly likely
to be confused with any Chinese celadon, except a few of the coarser Ming
and later types, in which the glaze happens to be very pale and thin. The
Siamese wares, moreover, usually have a small raw irregular ring under the
base, made by the end of a tubular kiln support, and differing from the
broad regular ring on the Lung-ch´üan dishes described above.
But the most puzzling of the external celadons are those made at various
times and places in Japan. They are, as a rule, close and careful copies
of Chinese types, with which they are readily confounded by persons not
familiar with Japanese peculiarities. In many cases, too, they will
puzzle the most expert. It is well-nigh impossible to put into words any
distinctive criteria of these wares. The biscuit is usually white and
porcellanous, and though it sometimes assumes a natural tinge of red at
the base, the colour is not so deep and decided as on the Lung-ch´üan
wares. The chief distinction is an inevitable Japanese flavour in the form
and decoration of the ware, but this, again, is an intangible feature
which can only be realised by the practised eye. Finally, it should be
said that remarkably close copies of the celadon green glaze (and of the
typical ornament as well) were made in Egypt and Persia in the late Middle
Ages. At a short distance they might often be taken for Chinese, but on
inspection the body will be found to have that soft, sandy texture which
is an unmistakable characteristic of the near-Eastern pottery.
It is impossible to leave the subject of celadon without a few words
on the distribution of the ware in the Middle Ages, though I have no
intention of embarking on the lengthy discussion which the interesting
nature of the subject invites, nor of reopening the much-debated
_Celadonfrage_ which elicited many interesting contributions[177] from
Professors Karabacek, A.B. Meyer, and Hirth, and Dr. Bushell. Probably
no single article of commerce can tell so much of the mediæval trade
between China and the West as the old celadon porcelains whose fragments
are constantly unearthed on the sites of the old-world trading stations.
The caravan routes through Turkestan and the seaborne trade through the
Eastern Archipelago and the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea,
and east coast of Africa can be followed by porcelains deposited at the
various trading centres and ports of call. Much, too, has been learnt from
the writings of Chinese, Arab, and European travellers and geographers.
Professor Hirth, as early as 1888, worked out the principal routes of
Chinese seaborne trade from the "Records of Chinese Foreign Trade and
Shipping,"[178] compiled by Chao Ju-kua about 1220 A.D., starting from the
Tingui[179] of Marco Polo, which he identifies with Lung-ch´üan itself,
and finishing in Egypt and Zanzibar. The porcelain was carried by land and
river to the great port of Ch´üan-chou Fu, and thence in junks to Bruni
in Borneo, Cochin China, and Cambodia, Java, Lambri, and Palembang, in
Sumatra, where the traders of the East and West met and exchanged goods.
Thence the trade proceeded to Quilom in Malabar, Guzerate, Cambray,
and Malwa, and as far as Zanzibar. Numerous other localities might be
mentioned, and much has been written[180] of the veneration in which old
Chinese wares have always been held in the Philippines and Borneo, and of
the magic powers attributed to the old dragon jars by the natives of these
countries.
The green celadon was highly valued in India and Persia, where it was
reputed to have the power of disclosing the presence of poison. An early
reference to the Chinese porcelain occurs in the writings of the Persian
geographer Yacut,[181] who mentions "four boxes full of Chinese porcelain
and rock crystal" among the effects of a native of Dour-er-Raçibi in
Khouzistan, who died in 913 a.d. The trade with Egypt is indicated in the
much-quoted incident of the gift of forty pieces of Chinese porcelain
sent from Egypt by Saladin to Nur-ed-din in Damascus in 1171, and by the
later gift of porcelain vases sent in 1487 by the Sultan of Egypt to
Lorenzo de' Medici. A large proportion of the celadons in our collections
has been brought and still comes from India, Persia, and Egypt.[182] The
Sultan's treasure at Constantinople[183] teems with celadons collected
in mediæval times. Fragments of celadon are unearthed on almost every
important mediæval site which is excavated in the East. The British
Museum has small collections of such fragments from Bijapur in India, the
island of Kais in the Persian Gulf, Rhages in Persia, Ephesus, Rhodes,
Cairo, and Mombasa, to mention a few sites only. Fragments of celadon
were found, in company with Chinese coins ranging in date from 990-1111
A.D., by Sir John Kirk and Lieut. C. Smith, near Kilwa in Zanzibar, and
the former, while British representative in Zanzibar, was able to form
a considerable collection of complete specimens which were treasured by
the natives with almost religious care. A story told by Sir John Kirk
illustrates the attitude of the native mind towards these treasured wares.
A celadon dish with particularly fine carving was the subject of a family
dispute, and to satisfy the rival claims a local Solomon decided that
it should be divided between the disputants. One large fragment of it
is now in Sir John Kirk's collection, which includes many interesting
dishes, crackled and plain, and ranging in colour from dark olive green
to the pale watery tint of the Sawankalok[184] wares. Other specimens of
interest are the large, wide-mouthed, bowl-shaped vases with sides deeply
ribbed or carved in high relief with bold floral designs. They have the
peculiar feature of being constructed at first without a bottom, which was
separately made in the form of a saucer and dropped in, the glaze holding
it firmly in position. Similar vases[185] have been found in India and
elsewhere. One of the first pieces of celadon to arrive in this country
was the celebrated Warham bowl, which was bequeathed to New College,
Oxford, in 1530 by Archbishop Warham. It is of dull grey green celadon,
the outside faintly engraved with four lotus petals, each containing a
trefoil, and in the bottom inside is the character _ch´ing_ [Chinese]
(pure) surrounded by rays. It has a fine silver-gilt mount of English
make.[186] It would be possible to multiply references to the traffic in
celadon wares which was carried on briskly between China and the West in
the Middle Ages, but enough has been said to give some idea of the extent
and nature of the trade, which was mainly in the coarsest types of ware.
Apart from the unlikelihood that very fine or precious porcelains would be
embarked on such long and hazardous journeys, there was actually a law in
force in China as early as the eighth century[187] which forbade, under
penalty of imprisonment, the exportation of "precious and rare articles,"
anticipating by a thousand years the restrictive legislation of the
Italian Government.
[Illustration: Plate 22.--Vase of Lung-ch´üan Porcelain.
With grey green celadon glaze of faint bluish tone, peony scroll in
low relief. Probably Sung dynasty. Height 19½ inches. _Peters
Collection._]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 154: See _T´ao lu_, bk. vi., fol. 4. A factory of inferior
reputation is supposed to have existed at the neighbouring village of
Chin-ts´un (see Hirth, _Ancient Chinese Porcelain_, p. 38). And the
_T´ao lu_ (bk. vii., fol. 6) describes a factory at Li-shui Hsien in the
Ch´u-chou district, whose productions were also known as Ch´u ware.]
[Footnote 155: In the _T´u shu_, bk. ccxlviii., section _Tz´ŭ ch´i pu hui
k´ao_, fol. 13, we are told that the brothers Chang worked beneath the Han
liu hill at Lung-ch´üan in the Sung and Yüan dynasties.]
[Footnote 156: _T´ao shuo_, bk. ii., fol. 12 recto.]
[Footnote 157: _Ts´ui_ has already been explained as meaning "kingfisher:
a bird with bluish green plumage." That it also connotes the idea of a
green colour is shown by the expression _ts´ui yü_, which is rendered in
Giles's Dictionary, "emerald green jade."]
[Footnote 158: Author of the _Ch´un fêng t´ang sui pi_, quoted in the
_T´ao shuo_, bk. ii., fol. 12.]
[Footnote 159: Bk. vii., fol. 24 verso.]
[Footnote 160: Two examples in the Gotha Museum were figured in the
_Burlington Magazine_, June, 1909, Plate iv.]
[Footnote 161: See _T´ao lu_, bk. iii., fol. 12 verso.]
[Footnote 162: Bk. vii., fol. 7 recto.]
[Footnote 163: [Chinese]]
[Footnote 164: _T´ao lu_, bk. vi., fol. 6.]
[Footnote 165: See Hirth, _Ancient Chinese Porcelain_, p. 31.]
[Footnote 166: See Bushell, _Oriental Ceramic Art_, p. 150.]
[Footnote 167: A large number of fragments and wasters, besides a few
complete specimens, found on the site of these potteries, about 200 miles
north of Bangkok, are now in the British Museum. The prevailing type of
ware has grey porcellanous body and a thin transparent glaze of watery
green celadon colour, often distinctly tinged with blue.]
[Footnote 168: [Chinese] See _T´ao lu_, vol. vi., fol. 3.]
[Footnote 169: Bk. vii., fol. 22.]
[Footnote 170: [Chinese] A phrase which the author of the _T´ao lu_
considers to be a mistake for the homophone [Chinese] (_tung yao_ or
Eastern ware). He also quotes another misnomer for the ware, viz.
[Chinese] _tung ch´ing ch´i_ (winter green ware). This Tung ware is
constantly alluded to in other works as _tung ch´ing_ [Chinese].]
[Footnote 171: [Chinese] lit. duplicated kingfisher green. Bushell, in
his translation, renders it literally "kingfisher feathers in layers," a
metaphor from the well-known jewellery with inlay of kingfisher feathers,
which would suggest a turquoise tint. On the other hand, we find in
Giles's Dictionary the phrase [Chinese] _Yüan shan t´ieh ts´ui_, "the
distant hills rise in many green ranges" (the two forms of _t´ieh_ being
alternatives), a phrase recalling the "green of a thousand hills," which
is used in reference to early green wares. See p. 16.]
[Footnote 172: Bk. ii., fol. 9.]
[Footnote 173: Bk. iii., fol. 12.]
[Footnote 174: Quoted from the _Yün tsao_ (a selection of verses) in the
_T´ao lu_, bk. ix., fol. 3.]
[Footnote 175: See _Recueil des lettres édifiantes et curieuses_. The
above passage occurs in a long letter dated from Jao Chou, September 1st,
1712. See Bushell, _Chinese Pottery and Porcelain_, Appendix, p. 206.]
[Footnote 176: The only example which I have seen of an inlaid celadon
which might be taken for Chinese is a dish in the Stübel Collection in the
Kunstgewerbe Museum, Dresden. It has a faint design, apparently inlaid, in
a brownish colour.]
[Footnote 177: In the _Oesterreichische Monatschrift_, January, 1885,
and succeeding numbers, A.B. Meyer's _Alterthümer aus dem Ostindischen
Archipel_, etc. etc.]
[Footnote 178: The _Chu fan chih_, the author of which was Imperial
inspector of foreign shipping, etc., in the province of Fukien. See
Hirth, _Ancient Chinese Porcelain: A Study in Chinese Mediæval Industry
and Trade_, Leipsig, 1888; and the translation of the _Chu fan chih_,
published by Hirth and Rockhill, 1912.]
[Footnote 179: Where Marco Polo (see Yule, bk. ii., p. 218) states that
"they make vessels of porcelain of all sizes, the finest that can be
imagined ... and thence it is exported all over the world."]
[Footnote 180: See A.B. Meyer, op. cit.; Ling Roth, _The Natives of
Borneo_; Carl Bock, _Head Hunters of Borneo_; Fay-Cooper Cole, _Chinese
Pottery in the Philippines_, Chicago 1912.]
[Footnote 181: A thirteenth-century writer, one of whose works is
translated by Barbier and Maynard, _Dictionnaire Géographique de la
Perse_. See p. 240 of this book. Fragments of celadon porcelain were found
on the ninth-century site of Samarra on the Euphrates. (See p. 148.)]
[Footnote 182: Much of the celadon found in Egypt would seem to be as late
as the early part of the sixteenth century, to judge from the general name
given to it by Egyptian merchants, "_baba ghouri_," after the sultan who
reigned at that time.]
[Footnote 183: See E. Zimmermann in the _Cicerone_, III. _Jahrgang_, s.
496 ff.]
[Footnote 184: See _Burlington Magazine_, June, 1909, p. 164. Other
pieces, apparently of Siamese make, have been found in Egypt, and it
is most probable that Siamese celadons were shipped by the traders at
Martaban in Pegu and sold by them along with the Chinese goods.]
[Footnote 185: See _Catalogue of the Early Chinese Pottery and Porcelain_,
Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1910, B. 27.]
[Footnote 186: See _Cat. B.F.A._, 1910, E 20, and Plate.]
[Footnote 187: See _Chau Ju-kua_ (translated by Hirth and Rockhill), p. 9.]