TING YAO [Chinese]
TING ware is by general consent ranked among the finer Sung porcelains,
and it is happily, like the Lung-ch´üan celadons, fairly well known to
Western collectors. Its name derives from its place of origin, Ting Chou,
the modern Chên-ting Fu, in the province of Chihli, where the manufacture
of a white ware, if not actually a white porcelain, appears to have
existed from remote times. Indeed, the "white ware (_pai tz´ŭ_) of Ting
Chou" is mentioned in the middle of the seventh century,[188] though
nothing further is heard of it until it came to enjoy the patronage of the
Sung emperors. As already hinted in connection with the Ju Chou porcelain,
the Ting ware suffered a temporary eclipse at Court owing to some defects
in the glaze; but it was not long in recovering its reputation, for the
_Ko ku yao lun_ states that it was at its best in the Chêng Ho and Hsüan
Ho periods, which extended from 1111 to 1125 A.D., and we learn that
the Ting Chou potters accompanied the Court in its flight across the
Yangtse in 1127. The manufacture seems to have been re-established after
this event in the neighbourhood of Ching-tê Chên, and the _nan ting_ or
Southern Ting ware is said to have so closely resembled the original that
to distinguish the two in after years was regarded as a supreme test of
connoisseurship.[189]
Ting ware has a white body of fine grain and compact texture, varying from
a slightly translucent porcelain to opaque porcellanous stoneware. Though
not so completely vitrified as the more modern porcelains, and lacking
their flint-like fracture, it was nevertheless capable of transmitting
light in the thinner and finer specimens, and consequently it can be
regarded as one of the earliest Chinese wares which fulfils the European
definition of porcelain. The glaze is of ivory tint, sometimes forming
on the outsides of bowls or dishes in brownish gummy tears, which were
regarded by Chinese collectors as a sign of genuineness.[190] The finer
and whiter varieties are known as _pai ting_ (white Ting) and _fên ting_
(flour Ting), as distinct from the coarser kind, whose opaque, earthy body
and glaze of yellowish tone, usually crackled and stained, earned it the
name of _t'u ting_ or earthen Ting.
In the best period the pure white undecorated Ting ware, with rich
unctuous glaze, compared to "congealed fat" or "mutton fat," was most
esteemed, though ornament was freely used, especially on the Southern
Ting. Designs carved in low relief or etched with a point were considered
best, the moulded and stamped ornament being rightly regarded as inferior.
There is a remarkable, though sadly damaged, example of Northern Ting
ware in the British Museum. It was found in a Manchurian tomb of the
twelfth century, and bears out the current descriptions of the ware with
its fine white body, rich ivory glaze, and "tear drops" on the reverse.
The ornament, a lotus design in bold freehand carving, displays all the
freshness and power of Sung craftsmanship. This dish has, moreover, a
characteristic common to the Sung Ting bowls and dishes, viz. the mouth
rim is bare of glaze. Many of the early wares were fired upside down,
whence the bare mouth rim, which was usually hidden by a metal band.[191]
Favourite carved designs with the Ting potters seem to have been the
mu-tan peony, the lily, and flying phœnixes. They are, at any rate,
usually singled out for mention by Chinese writers.[192] Garlic and rushes
are also incidentally mentioned as motives, and a few examples of a
beautiful design of ducks on water are known in Western collections. The
moulded ornament is generally more elaborate, dense peony scrolls with
phœnixes flying through them, radiating panels of flowers, dragons in
clouds, fishes among water plants and wave patterns, etc. To judge from
Hsiang's Album, carved designs borrowed from ancient bronzes must have
been highly prized.
Of the three kinds of ornament usually associated by Chinese writers
with the Ting ware; the _hua hua_ (carved decoration) and the _yin hua_
(stamped or moulded decoration) have already been mentioned. The meaning
of the third, _hsiu hua_,[193] is not so clear, as the phrase can bear
two interpretations, viz. painted ornament or embroidered ornament. In
the latter sense it would suggest a rich decoration like that of brocade
without indicating the method by which it was applied. But in the former
it was the usual Chinese expression for painted ornament, and it is
difficult to imagine that it was intended to indicate anything else in
the present context. On the other hand, no examples of painted Ting ware
are known to exist either in actual fact or in Chinese descriptions. This
anomaly, however, may perhaps be explained in one of two ways. A creamy
white ware of _t´u ting_ type, boldly painted with brown or black designs,
is known to have been made at the not far distant factories of Tz´ŭ
Chou[194] in the Sung dynasty, and it is possible that either the painted
Ting ware has been grouped with the Tz´ŭ Chou ware in modern collections,
or that Chinese writers mistook the Tz´ŭ Chou ware for painted Ting ware
and added this third category to the Ting wares by mistake. In any case
they regarded the painted ware as an inferior article.
The high estimation in which fine specimens of white Ting ware have always
been held by Chinese connoisseurs is well illustrated by a passage in
the _Yün shih chai pi t´an_.[195] It tells how Mr. Sun of the Wu-i river
estate treasured in his mountain retreat Ting yao incense-burners, and
among them one exquisite specimen of the Sung period. It was a round
vessel with ear handles and three feet, and the inscription _li hsi yai_
([Chinese]) was engraved in seal characters on the stand. During the
Japanese raids in the Chia Ching period this vessel passed into the hands
of one Chin Shang-pao, who sold it to T´ang, the President of Sacrifices
(_t´ai ch´ang_), of P´i-ling. T´ang, whose residence bore the romantic but
chilly name of Ning-an (Frozen Hut), is the celebrated collector mentioned
in connection with another Ting vessel on p. 95. "Although T´ang had many
wonderful porcelains," the story runs, "when this vessel arrived, they
all, without exception, made way for it. And so throughout the land when
men discuss porcelains, they give the first place to T´ang's white incense
vase. T´ang, they say, did not readily allow it to be seen." And in this
respect, if all accounts are true, T´ang was not unlike a good many
Chinese collectors of the present day.
On the other hand, the Ting ware was often marred by certain blemishes
which are not always easy to understand. The "awns" (_mang_), for
instance, which degraded it at Court in favour of the Ju Chou ware in the
early Sung period were probably flaws in the glaze. The "bamboo thread
brush marks" mentioned in the _Liu ch´ing jih cha_[196] may perhaps be
lines left in the glaze which was applied by means of a bamboo brush.
Three other defects which rendered the ware comparatively worthless are
named in the _Ko ku yao lun_,[197] viz. _mao_ (thatch), _mieh_ (bamboo
splints), and _ku ch´u_ (bare bones). The author fortunately explains that
(1) to thatch (_mao_) means to cover over defects, (2) bamboo splints
(_mieh_) is used of lines and recalls the brush marks mentioned above, and
(3) bare bones (_ku ch´u_) are patches where the glaze is defective and
the body shows through. _Ku_, in the sense of "body or biscuit," we are
further informed, is a "curio-market expression." Modern collectors will
probably not be so fastidious as the Chinese of the fourteenth century,
and will welcome a Sung specimen of Ting porcelain, even though it suffer
from _mang_ and _ku ch´u_.
The _pai ting_ and the _t´u ting_, the fine and coarse white varieties,
alone have been identified in Western collections; but there are coloured
Ting porcelains which are known to us by literary references. An
apocryphal red Ting ware[198] (_hung ting_) is mentioned in two passages
of ambiguous meaning which need not necessarily have implied a true red
glaze. In any case it finds no place in the older works, such as the _Ko
ku yao lun_ and _Ch´ing p´i tsang_, which only speak of purple or brown
(_tzŭ_) Ting, and black Ting. "There is purple[199] Ting," says the _Ko
ku yao lun_, "the colour of which is purple; there is ink Ting, the colour
of which is black, like lacquer. The body in every case is white, and the
value of these is higher than that of white Ting."
Hsiang, who figured five specimens in his Album, compared them to the
colour of ripe grapes and the skin of the aubergine fruit or brinjal,
one specimen being _tzŭ ts´ui_ (purple blue); and he further states that
out of a hundred and more specimens of Ting ware he had only seen ten of
purple and one of black colour.
The solitary specimen of black Ting, which appears in a very unconvincing
illustration in Hsiang's Album,[200] is divided into two zones, one
black, the other white, and Hsiang regards it as inestimably rare and
precious. In this appreciation he follows the _Ko ku yao lun_, but other
writers, such as the author of the _Ch´ing pi ts´ang_, take an entirely
different view, holding neither the purple nor the black Ting ware of
much account. With us at present the question is of academic interest
only, as no examples of either kind worthy of notice have been identified
in Western collections. The nearest approach to the description of the
purple variety which I have seen is a small box from a tomb in Shansi,
made of white porcellanous ware with a purplish black glaze on the cover.
It is, however, a crude object, and of no particular merit. As for the
black Ting, the nearest analogue to that which I can quote is the vases
with black or brown black glaze belonging to the Tz´ŭ Chou class. Some
of these (see Plate 30) have zones of black and white recalling Hsiang's
description. It is, perhaps, worth noting in this connection that the
black glaze on these wares was liable to shade off into lustrous brown,
indicating the presence of iron oxide, and to resemble in this respect
the so-called "hare's fur" or "partridge" glazes of the celebrated Chien
yao tea bowls.[201] This fact may account for a passage in an early
writer,[202] who says "the ancients favoured as tea bowls Ting ware with
hare's fur marking, and these were used in the powdered-tea competitions,"
but the work deals with tea rather than ceramics, and it is probable that
a confusion had arisen in the author's mind between the Chien yao tea
bowls and Ting ware. On the other hand, it would appear that bowls with
glaze which has some analogies with the "hare's fur" were made at an early
date in Northern China. (See Fig. 1 of Plate 43 and p. 132.)
Though little is heard of the coloured Ting wares after the Sung
period,[203] the manufacture of white Ting and the commoner _t´u ting_
continued at Ching-tê Chên and elsewhere. In fact, it cannot be said to
have suffered intermission up to the present day. A few of these imitative
wares of later date were of such excellence as to merit historical
notice. In the Yüan dynasty, for instance, P´êng Chün-pao, a goldsmith of
Ho Chou, in Shansi,[204] was celebrated for his imitations of old Ting
wares, and the _Ko ku yao lun_, an almost contemporary work, describes
his productions as exactly like Ting ware when of fine body,[205] but as
being "short" and "brittle," and consequently not really worth much. "But
dealers in curiosities give them the name of _hsin ting_ or New Ting, and
amateurs collect it at great cost, which is most ridiculous." Again, the
_Po wu yao lan_ describes another wonderful imitation of Ting ware made
in the sixteenth century[206] by Chou Tan-ch´üan, a native of Wu-mên, who
settled at Ching-tê Chên, and was reputed the best potter of his time.
Though, generally speaking, his material was not as fine as the original,
still his copies of _Wên wang_ censers[207] and sacrificial vessels with
"monster heads and halberd ears" so closely resembled the originals that
it was only necessary to "rub away the kiln-gloss all over the surface" to
make the illusion complete. Among the literary references to pottery and
porcelain collected in books viii. and ix. of the _T´ao lu_ is a story
narrated in the _Yün shih chai pi t´an_, illustrating the cleverness of
Chou Tan-ch´üan. Julien[208] has translated it as follows: "One day he
(Chou) embarked on a merchant boat from Kin-tchong and landed on the right
bank of the Kiang. Passing P´i-ling, he called on T´ang, the President of
the Sacrifices (_T´ai ch´ang_), and asked permission to examine at leisure
an ancient tripod of Ting porcelain[209] which was one of the gems of his
collection. With his hand he took the exact measurements of the vessel;
then he made an impression of the patterns on the tripod with some paper
which he had hidden in his sleeve, and returned at once to Ching-tê Chên.
Six months after he returned and paid a second visit to Mr. T´ang. Taking
from his sleeve a tripod, he said to him, 'Your Excellency owns a tripod
censer of white Ting porcelain. Here is its fellow, which belongs to me.'
T´ang was astounded. He compared it with the old tripod, which he kept
most carefully preserved, and could find no difference. He tried its feet
against those of his own vessel and exchanged the covers, and found that
it matched with perfect precision. T´ang thereupon asked whence came this
wonderful specimen. 'Some time ago,' answered Chou, 'I asked your leave
to examine your tripod at leisure. I then took all its measurements with
my hand. I assure you that this is a copy of yours, and that I would not
deceive you in the matter.' The _T´ai ch´ang_, realising the truth of this
statement, bought for forty ounces of silver the tripod, which filled him
with admiration, and placed it in his collection beside the original as
though it were its double. In the Wan Li period (1573-1619), Tu-chiu, of
Huai-an, came to Fou-liang. Smitten with a deep longing for T´ang's old
censer, he could think of nothing else, and even saw it in his dreams.
One day he went with Kien-yu, the _T´ai ch´ang's_ nephew, and after much
importunity he succeeded in getting from him for a thousand ounces of
silver the imitation made by Chou, and returned home completely happy."
Other examples of Ting imitations in the late Ming period, described in
the _Po wu yao lan_, include "magnolia blossom cups; covered censers and
barrel-shaped censers with chain-armour pattern, ball and gate embroidery
and tortoise pattern mingled together in an ornamental ground." But we
gather that though these have been confounded with Chou's work they were
inferior both in material and workmanship to his early masterpieces.
At any rate, it is certain that besides these conspicuous craftsmen
whose names have become historical, there were many nameless potters at
Ching-tê Chên who devoted their skill to the imitation of _pai ting_
porcelain in the Ming and Ch´ing dynasties. Very beautiful wares of this
class are occasionally seen which have a "slickness" of decoration and a
mechanical refinement of finish characteristic of an art which is already
crystallised and has lost its freshness and spontaneity. These are, no
doubt, the work of later copyists. Indeed, we are expressly told in the
_T´ao lu_[210] that at the end of the eighteenth century there were still
potters at Ching-tê Chên who made a specialty of _pai ting ch´i_ or white
Ting wares. These, moreover, were makers of curiosities and ornamental
wares (_wan_), and they sometimes painted their wares with underglaze blue.
Among the provincial wares of the Ting type the _Ko ku yao lun_ mentions
Hsiang yao, which "has crab's claw crackle. When rich and lustrous it is
highly esteemed, but when yellow and of coarser material, it is of little
merit or value." Another work[211] gives this ware a flattering mention in
stating that the Ting ware resembled Hsiang yao in colour. The locality
of its manufacture is left in doubt, but it was probably Hsiang-shan, in
the Ning-po prefecture of Chekiang. The _T´ao lu_ names a good number
of producers of white ware, some definitely described as of Ting type,
among the lesser factories. Su Chou,[212] for instance, in Anhui, in the
modern prefecture of Fêng-yang, had a pottery dating from the Sung period.
Its productions resembled Ting ware in colour, and had a considerable
reputation. In fact, when the Ting porcelain became scarce the Su Chou
ware was largely bought in Northern China as a substitute, though in
reality it was far from equal to the genuine Ting.
Ssŭ Chou,[213] too, another place in Anhui, had a pottery dating from Sung
times, which made wares of Ting type, and "persons who liked a bargain
often bought them in place of Ting porcelain." In the same district,
during the Yüan and Ming periods, a thin white ware with "earthen" body
was made at Hsüan Chou,[214] which was evidently of _t´u ting_ type.
Brinkley[215] speaks of a pottery of this kind which is greatly esteemed
by the Japanese under the name of Nyo-fu ware[216]; and a little wine cup
with a slight engraved floral decoration in the British Museum is possibly
an example of this class. It has an earthy looking body, and creamy white
glaze, and is thin and very light to handle. Under the base are engraved
the words [Chinese] _han hsing_ ("to contain fragrance").
[Illustration:
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Plate 23.--Ivory white Ting Ware, with carved ornament. Sung dynasty.
Fig. 1.--Bowl with lotus design. Diameter 8½ inches. _Eumorfopoulos
Collection._
Fig. 2.--Dish with ducks and water plants. Diameter 8¾ inches.
_Alexander Collection._]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Plate 24.--Sung and Yüan Porcelain.
Fig. 1.--Ewer, translucent Porcelain, with smooth ivory white glaze. Sung
or Yüan dynasty. Height 6 inches. _Alexander Collection._
Fig. 2.--Vase of ivory white Ting ware with carved lotus design. Sung
dynasty. Height 11½ inches. _Eumorfopoulos Collin._]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Plate 25.--Ting Ware with moulded designs, Sung dynasty.
Fig 1. Plate with boys in peony scrolls, ivory white glaze. Diameter 7¾
inches. _Peters Collection._
Fig. 2. Bowl with flying phœnixes in lily scrolls, crackled creamy glaze;
_t´u ting_ ware. Diameter 6 inches. _Koechlin Collection._]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Plate 26.--T´u ting Ware, Sung dynasty, with creamy crackled glaze.
Fig. 1.--Brush washer in form of a boy in a boat. Length 7⅛ inches.
_Rothenstein Collection._
Fig. 2.--Figure of an elephant. Length 10½ inches. _Eumorfopoulos
Collection._]
[Illustration: Plate 27.--Vase of bronze form with row of studs and
moulded belt of _k´uei_ dragon and key-fret patterns.
"Ostrich egg" glaze. (?) Kiangnan ware, of Ting type; Sung dynasty. Height
17⅝ inches. _Peters Collection._]
[Illustration: Plate 28.--Vase of bronze form with two bands of raised key
pattern.
Thick creamy glaze, closely crackled and shading off into brown with faint
tinges of purple. (?) Kiangnan Ting ware. Fourteenth century. Height
15½ inches. _Koechlin Collection._]
In Kiangsu, the western portion of Kiang-nan, is the "white earth village"
Pai-t´u Chên,[217] where potteries existed from Sung times, making a ware
of the local clay, very thin, white and lustrous, beautiful in form and
workmanship. Thirty kilns were worked, chiefly by families of the name
Tsou, under the direction of a headman, the potters numbering several
hundreds.
Under the heading of Hsi yao,[218] the _T´ao shuo_ alludes to four
factories in the province of Shansi, which are interesting to-day in
view of the various wares excavated in the railway cuttings now under
construction in that province. A fuller description of these potteries
is given in the _T´ao lu_, which mentions P´ing-yang Fu in the southern
half of Shansi as a pottery centre in the T´ang and Sung dynasties, where
the ware was white but disqualified by a glaze lacking in purity. At Ho
Chou, in the same district, a superior ware was made as early as the
T´ang dynasty, which was even considered worthy of mention in the _Ko ku
yao lun_, probably because of the connection of P´êng Chün-pao (see p.
94) with this place in the Yüan dynasty. The _T´ao lu_ tells that the
Ho ware was made of fine rich material, the body unctuous and thin, and
the colour usually white, and that it was more beautiful than P´ing-yang
ware--a qualified compliment! A coarse pottery made at Yu-tzü Hsien, in
the T´ai-yüan prefecture in the north, and at P´ing-ting Chou in the
west, complete the quartet. The former dated from T´ang times, and the
latter, dating from the Sung, was made of a dark-coloured clay which gave
a dusky tinge to the white glaze. A small melon-shaped vase, reputed to
have come from a tomb in Shansi, is shown in Plate 11. It has a hard, buff
grey body, with a dressing of white slip and white glaze, the effect of
the combination being a pleasing surface of solid-looking ivory white. A
factory which made white wares in the neighbouring province of Shansi is
named in the twelfth century _Ch´ing po tsa chih_.[219] It was situated
at Huang-p´u Chên, in Yao Chou, where, as we are told in the _T´ao shuo_,
they had at an early date made flat-bottom bowls which were called "little
seagulls." The place is near Hsi-an Fu.
Wares of the _t´u ting_, the "earthy" Ting, type, with creamy glaze, were
made at Nan-fêng Hsien,[220] in the province of Kiangsi, during the Yüan
dynasty; and at Chi Chou[221] in the same province there were factories in
the Sung dynasty which deserve some attention. The latter were situated
at Yung-ho Chên, in the Chi Chou district, in the prefecture of Chia-an
Fu, and one of the productions appears to have resembled the purple
(_tzŭ_) Ting ware, though it was coarser and thicker, and of no great
merit. The _Ko ku yao lun_[222] speaks of five factories in this place
producing white and purple (_tzŭ_) wares, flower vases of large size and
considerable value, and small vases which were ornamented, and crackled
wares of great beauty. The best of these potteries belonged to a man named
Shu [Chinese]. We are further informed by the _Chü chai tsa chi_[223] that
Shu, the old man (_Shu wêng_), was skilled in making ornamental objects,
and that his daughter, _Shu chiao_ (the fair Shu), excelled him. Her
incense burners and jars of various kinds commanded a price almost equal
to that of Ko yao. The author proceeds to describe a dish and a bowl in
his own collection as of "grey ware with invisible blue[224] glaze, which
was capable of keeping water sweet for a month." It has been assumed that
the decoration of the "small vases" was painted,[225] but the expression
in the text (_yu hua_)[226] gives no clue to the kind of decoration, and
we are left quite in the dark as to its real nature.
The industry seems to have ended abruptly at the beginning of the Yüan
dynasty, the story being that when the Sung minister Wên was passing by
all the ware in the kilns turned to jade, and the potters, fearing that
the event might reach the Emperor's ears, closed down the kilns and fled
to Ching-tê Chên. The meaning of this myth has never been satisfactorily
explained, but it was pointed out that a large number of Yung-ho names
appear in the early lists of Ching-tê Chên potters, and the _Ko ku yao
lun_ asserts that excavations on the site of the kilns were made in the
Yung Lo period (1403-1424), and that several kinds of jade cups and bowls
were found--cautiously adding, however, that this might or might not have
been the case. The ruins of the Yung-ho potteries seem to have been still
visible in the fifteenth century.[227]
From a passage in the _T´ao lu_ we learn that crackle was a speciality
of some of the Yung-ho potters. Under the heading of _Sui ch´i yao_[228]
(crackle wares), we are told that "these are the wares made in the
Southern Sung period. Originally, they were a special class of the ware
made at Yung-ho Chên.... The clay was coarse but strong, the body thick,
the material heavy. Moreover, there were 'millet coloured' (_mi sê_)
and pale green (_fên ch´ing_) kinds.[229] The potters used _hua shih_
(steatite) in the glaze, and the crackle was in running lines, like a
broken thing. They smeared and blackened the ware with coarse ink or
ochreous earth; then they finished it. Afterwards they rubbed it clean,
and it was found to have hidden lines and stains of red or black, like
cracked ice, beautiful to look at. There were besides pieces with plain
crackled ground, to which they added blue decoration." This appears to be
the first mention of painted blue decoration, and if it is true that it
was made in the Sung period, it carries this important method back farther
than has been usually supposed. Possibly the ware was of the same type as
the coarse crackled porcelain, with roughly painted blue designs, found in
Borneo and Malaysia, where it is credited with great antiquity. There is a
very interesting specimen in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, which bears
on this question. It came from Japan, where it had been treasured as a
Chinese tea bowl of the Sung period, and it has a brownish green crackled
glaze painted in dark blue with the characters _O mi t´o fo_ (Amitabha
Buddha), which was sometimes written in this way as a charm against evil.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 188: See Hirth, _Ancient Chinese Porcelain_, op. cit., p. 4.
The passage discovered by Hirth occurs in the _T´ang pên ts´ao_, the
pharmacopœia of the T´ang dynasty, compiled about 650 A.D.]
[Footnote 189: See _T´ao shuo_, bk. ii., fol. 7 verso.]
[Footnote 190: See _Ko ku yao lun_, bk. vii., fol. 23. "Specimens with
tear stains (_lei hên_) outside are genuine."]
[Footnote 191: The _T'ao lu_, bk. ix., fol. 13, quotes from _T'ang shih
ssŭ k'ao_ the following passage which bears on this point: "The Ting and
Ju ware used by the Court generally have a copper band on the mouth. This
was regarded as destroying their value. But modern collectors of Ting and
Ju wares have come to regard the copper band on the mouth as a sign of
genuineness. Dealers in curios declare it to be a sign of age."]
[Footnote 192: e.g. _Po wu yao lan_, _T'ao lu_, etc.]
[Footnote 193: [Chinese] or [Chinese]. The word _hua_ (lit. flowers)
is used in the general sense of "ornament." The attempts of certain
translators to confine it to the literal sense "flowers" has led to
ridiculous results.]
[Footnote 194: See p. 101.]
[Footnote 195: An early eighteenth-century work, quoted in the _T´ao lu_,
bk. ix., fol. 11.]
[Footnote 196: See _T´ao shuo_, bk., ii., fol. 7.]
[Footnote 197: Bk. vii., fol. 23.]
[Footnote 198: The _Memoir of Chiang_ (see p. 159), written in the Yüan
dynasty, says that the "pure white ware of Ching-tê Chên in the Sung
dynasty, when compared with the red porcelain (_hung tz´ŭ_) of Chên-ting
and the Lung-ch´üan green ware, emulated these in beauty." Chên-ting
is the Chên-ting Fu, the prefectural town of Ting Chou, and the ware
indicated is no doubt Ting ware; but here the comparison clearly seems to
be between white wares, and unless the word _hung_ (red) applies to some
variety of the Ting biscuit as distinct from the glaze, it is difficult to
understand.]
[Footnote 199: [Chinese] _tzŭ_, "purple or dark red brown," is, like
most Chinese colour-words, a somewhat elastic term. The dictionary gives
instances in which it is applied to "red sandal wood," "brown sugar," the
ruby, the violet, and the peony.]
[Footnote 200: Op. cit., fig. 35.]
[Footnote 201: See p. 131. I have seen a single specimen of a bowl with
carved design and creamy white glaze inside and all the appearances of
a Ting ware, but coated on the exterior with a lustrous coffee brown
monochrome. But without any other example to guide one's judgment, I
should hesitate to say that this piece was older than the Ming dynasty.]
[Footnote 202: Hsü Tz´ŭ-shu, author of the _Ch´a Su_, a book on tea,
quoted in the _T´ao shuo_, bk. v., fol. 15 verso.]
[Footnote 203: The potteries in the Chên-ting Fu district were active up
to the end of the Ming dynasty, at any rate (see p. 199); and no doubt
many of the coarse _t´u ting_ specimens belong to the Ming period, but as
their forms are archaic it is almost impossible nowadays to differentiate
them.]
[Footnote 204: Julien, op. cit., p. 21, places this town in Kiang-nan, but
this is clearly an error.]
[Footnote 205: In contrast with these there were specimens with "green
mouth," _ch´ing k´ou_ which were "wanting in richness and lustre."]
[Footnote 206: The date of Chou Tan-ch´üan is not given, but he is
mentioned in the _Ni ku lu_, a mid-sixteenth-century work.]
[Footnote 207: A well-known type of bronze incense burner of the Shang
dynasty. See the _Shin sho sei_, bk. i., fol. 2; and Hsiang's Album, fig.
1, where a Ting ware copy is illustrated.]
[Footnote 208: Julien, op. cit., pp. xxxiii.-xxxv.; the reference in the
_T´ao lu_ is bk. viii., fol. 5.]
[Footnote 209: Perhaps the celebrated "white Ting censer" described on p.
92.]
[Footnote 210: Bk. ii., fol. 9 verso.]
[Footnote 211: The _Liu ch´ing jih cha_, written by T´ien Yi-hêng in the
Ming dynasty.]
[Footnote 212: [Chinese] _T´ao lu_, vol. vii., fol. 9 verso. See also
bk. ix., fol. 9, where the _Ch´ing po tsa chih_ (1193 A.D.) is quoted as
follows: "The wares used at the present day, which are made at So Chou and
Ssŭ Chou, are not genuine Ting ware."]
[Footnote 213: [Chinese] _T´ao lu_, vol. vii., fol. 9 verso.]
[Footnote 214: [Chinese] _T´ao lu_, vol. vii., fol. 10 verso.]
[Footnote 215: F. Brinkley, _Japan and China_, vol. ix., p. 259.]
[Footnote 216: Nyo-fu is the Japanese name for Kiang-nan, the province of
which Anhui forms a part.]
[Footnote 217: In the district of Hsiao Hsien, department of Hsü Chou. The
ware is described in the _T´ao lu_ (bk. vii., fol. 7) under the name Hsiao
[Chinese] yao.]
[Footnote 218: [Chinese].]
[Footnote 219: Quoted in the _T´ao lu_, bk. ix., fol. 9.]
[Footnote 220: [Chinese]]
[Footnote 221: [Chinese]]
[Footnote 222: Bk. vi., fol. 23 verso. This account does not appear in the
original edition, and was added in the later edition of 1459.]
[Footnote 223: Quoted in the _T´ao shuo_.]
[Footnote 224: [Chinese] _yu_, which means "black," or "invisible blue or
green."]
[Footnote 225: See Bushell, _T´ao shuo_, p. 48.]
[Footnote 226: "Have ornament."]
[Footnote 227: See _Ko ku yao lun_, loc. cit.]
[Footnote 228: [Chinese] _T´ao lu_, bk. vi., fol. 7 recto and verso.]
[Footnote 229: These must have resembled Ko yao. Hence, perhaps, the
comparison in value between the fair Shu's ware and the Ko yao, p. 98.]