324 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



From Hsiang Tzu-cbing-'s catalogue it would .seem as if there were 

 originally two recognized classes of this ware — ordinary Kuan-yao and 

 Ta-l-uan, or superior Kuan-yao. Among the latter he mentions an 

 ink slab for the Emperor's use, in which "an oval was left unglazed in 

 the center for rub))ingthe ink on, showing the red paste.'' Both were 

 celadon in color; in the superior variety {ta-kiutn), however, the glaze 

 appears to have been more brilliant — it is described as "clear and lus- 

 trous, like an emerald in tint." The two specimens of this ware de- 

 scribed were both coarsely crackled. The ordinary Kuan-iiao was in 

 some cases crackled with a glaze varying from pale green to deep onion; 

 in other specimens uncrackled, the latter being seemingly of a lighter 

 tint than the crackled; the ornamentation, consisting of a varietv of 

 scroll designs or of some geometrical patterns broken by animals' 

 heads in relief, was engraved under the glaze. ^ 



After the court had been removed south to Hangchou, Shao Ch'eng- 

 chang, superintendent of the Northern Imperial Park, is said to have 

 established a factory in the residence of the junior director of the 

 palace. Made of very pure clay, with great grace of form and covered 

 with a transparent, brilliant glaze, this porcelain, which was termed 

 Nel-yao porcelain of the palace or Kiian-yao — Government porcelain — 

 gained a high reputation. 



TING-YAO. 



Ting-yao^ or porcelain of Tingchow, was manufactured originally in 

 the district of that name in Chihli province, near the present depart- 

 ment of Chengting. It was known as Pel-ting or Northern Ting 

 (960-1126), in contradistinction to the Nan-ting or Southern Ting, pro- 

 duced at Hangchow after the retreat of the court southward before 

 the advancing Mongols in 1127. The former was the more highly 

 prized, and the tinest specimens of this ware were those produced, it is 

 said, during the period Chengho (1111 to 1117) and Hsiianho (1119 to 

 1125). In color they were brilliant white, purple, or black; and though 

 the Ko-ku-yao-lan (a work treating of antiquities, completed in 1387), as 

 quoted in the T''a()-i<huo. or Treatise on Porcelain, from which the au- 

 thors translated b}^ M. Julien derive most of their information regarding 

 the ceramics of earlier dynasties, gives as the test of Tingchow porce- 

 lain "the purity of its white color and ])rillancy of its glaze," it is evi- 

 dent that the connoisseur Hsiang Tzu-ching experienced a stronger 

 affection for his "beautiful purple glaze, uniformly brilliant and trans- 

 parent, resembling the tint of ripe grapes or of the aubergine (egg- 

 plant) '' and his black, than he did for the white glaze, though it were, 

 in his own words, "uniformly lustrous and translucent,. like mutton-fat 

 or fine jade." Both the purple and black varieties were far rarer than 



*S. W. Bushell, Chinese Porcelain before the Present Dynasty, Nos. 2, 5, 8, 13, 15, 

 17, 47, 50, 53, 73. 



