CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 321 



With the sole exception of the Nanteng- ware, and a portion of that 

 from Linch'uan, produced during- the Yiian dynasty, none of which 

 seems to have survived to the present day, but which is described as 

 having- been decorated with tiowers coarsely painted under the glaze, 

 1 can rtnd nothing in the works of Chinese writers on this subject to 

 justify the concession of a greater antiquity than the early part of the 

 Ming- dynasty — that is, the tirst half of the fifteenth century — to the 

 ornamentation of vases with arabesques and scroll work, with land- 

 scapes, historical scenes, or genre paintings in several colors. 



This conclusion, if correct, is a point of considerable importance as an 

 aid in determining the true age of specimens which are at times credited 

 with an origin far remote. It is true that celadon vases, into the orna- 

 mentation of which leaves enter, are sometimes described as having- the 

 leaves veined with dark green, l)ut these deeper shades may result from 

 the fact that the ornamentation has been engraved in the paste, and 

 that the coloring matter has sunk into the line of engraving, thereby 

 producing- a darker shade along the lower levels. Other specimens of 

 celadon ware had one or sometimes two bands of ornamentation of a 

 deeper green than the body of the vase. This deeper tone might, 

 however, have been produced by a doulile layer of glaze; in any case 

 the peculiarity would not amount to ornamentation in several colors 

 in the sense in which I use that expression. Again, the single speci- 

 men of black Tingchou porcelain illustrated (and indeed ever seen) by 

 Hsiang Tzu-ching is described as ''a duck-headed vase, bottle shape, 

 with swelling body and ringed neck, which curves over to end in a 

 duck's head, a round oritice with a small cover being- on the convexity 

 of the curve. The black color is painted on the head and neck, gradu- 

 ally fading away on the body of the vase, which is enamelled white.'' ^ 

 This description conveys the idea that the head and neck of the duck 

 were covered with black glaze, the body of the vase with white glaze, 

 and that in the baking the former spread downwards and 'gradually 

 merged into the white of the body. It in no way invalidates the con- 

 clusion a])ove suggested. 



It will be advisable to examine in greater detail the several varieties 

 of porcelain manufactured under this dynasty, following the order of 

 merit usually ascribed to them by Chinese writers. 



JU-YAO. 



Ju-yao or Jncliou jyorcelam. — Chinese authors state that the porcelain 

 manufactured at Tingchow (see p. 324), being unfit for presentation 

 to the Emperor, the establishment of a factory for the nuiiuifacture of 

 more suitable articles was ordered at fJuchow, in Honan Province. 

 According to some writers the defect of the Tingchou ware was its 



I 



^8-. W. Bushell, Chinese Porcelain before the Present Dynasty, No. 35. 



