CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 335 



are not a few of these wine cups left, yet they are highly appreciated 

 by eollectors of taste." ^ Specimens of the Ch'enghua eggshell will be 

 found in Nos. 296 to 303. 



In spite of the extreme thinness of this ware, many specimens — such 

 as Nos. 289 to 294, already referred to — are adorned with ver^^ elabo- 

 late designs engraved under the glaze (an operation requiring excep- 

 tional delicac}- of workmanship), which are scarcely visible unless the 

 vessel be held against the light or be filled with liquid; These speci- 

 mens possess additional interest from the fact that they enable us to 

 picture to ourselves what the porcelain manufactured for the special 

 use of the palace under the Yiian dynasty (the Shu-fu) and the Ting- 

 chow ware of the Sung dynasty were like; though, of course, these 

 latter had not the thinness and delicacy of the eggshell porcelain. 

 For Hsiang Tzu-ching, after describing a specimen of Shu-fu porce- 

 lain decorated with dragons in the midst of clouds and with lion's head 

 handles, all faintly engraved in the paste under a white glaze, states 

 that "the porcelain of our own dynasty (the Ming) of the reigns of 

 Yunglo and Hsiiante, decorated with patterns engraved under a w hite 

 glaze, was made after this Shu-fa porcelain, which was itself copied 

 from the Tingchou porcelain of the northern Sung dynasty."^ 



From 1426 to 1435. 



Among the porcelain manufactured during the Hsiiante period (1426 

 to 1435), that covered with crimson glaze or bearing designs in that 

 color holds the highest place in the eyes of Chinese connoisseurs. " It 

 truly stands preeminent among the celebrated porcelains of different 

 dynasties, a precious jewel of our own times,'' saj^s Hsiang Tzu-ching. 

 Some of the descriptions left by this author are worth reproducing. (1) 

 An incense burner from an old bronze design. ''The upper two-thirds of 

 the body and the handles, which are molded in the form of fish, are 

 covered with a deep red glaze of rosy dawn tint, the lower part 

 enameled white, pure as driven snow, the two colors mingling in a 

 curved line, dazzling the ej^es.'' (2) A wine pot (6i inches high), copied 

 from a similar vessel of carved jade used bv the emperor. " The body, 

 slender below, swelling towards the top, is decorated with engraved 

 cloud scrolls and bands of geometrical and spiral pattern, with conical 

 cover, spirally curved handle, and spout moulded and engraved in the 

 form of a phojnix head, all covered with deep-red {cJt i h ung) glaze. '' It 

 is said to have cost the owner 200 ingots of silver in paper notes, a 

 sum Doctor Bushell estimates to be equivalent to about £600. 



Another stj^le of decoration much esteemed at the time for open 

 vessels was ''three red fish on a white ground pure as driven snow, 

 the fish boldly outlined and red as fresh blood, of a brilliant color 



^ S. W. Bushell, Chinese Porcelam before the Present Dynasty, No. 61. 

 =* Idem, No. 21. 



