THE CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 417 



From 15(37 to 1619. 



During the LungcU'iug (1567 to 1572) and Wanli (1573 to 1619) periods 

 it appears to have been difficult to obtain supplies of good clay, and 

 this fact, combined with the increasing disorder throughout the empire 

 and the enormous extent of the supplies ordered for palace use, caused 

 a marked deterioration in the quality of the ware produced, though the 

 workmanship is at times highly spoken of, especially in the case of porce- 

 lain decorated in enamel colors — the most highly prized having marks 

 on them resembling " millet grains," or a surface marked as with the 

 pittings on orange peel {Vapparanee chagrinee Wune peau Worange). 



While, however, the productions of the government factories were 

 marked by an ever-increasing decadence, serious efforts were made by 

 private producers to stay the downward tendency, and two individuals 

 would seem to have won for themselves and their ware a very high rep- 

 utation. Chou Tan-ch'lian, a native of Wumen, imitated the ancient 

 masterpieces of Tingchou porcelain so successfully, that the most expert 

 connoisseurs failed, it is said, to detect the fraud, and willingly purchased 

 them at such enormous sums as 1,000 ounces of silver each (|1,500). 

 Another maker, of unknown origin, but whose name tradition says was 

 Hao Shihchiu, made cups of " liquid-dawn tint," bright as vermilion, and 

 of egg-shell of a beautiful brilliant white, and weighing in some cases only 

 just over half a penny weight, or about one-fortieth of an ounce, for which 

 extravagant prices were paid (this all sounds, however, much exagger- 

 ated). Other productions of his were celadon vases resembling Kuan- 

 yao or the elder Chang's w;are (Ko-yao), except that they were not 

 crackled, and vases of a color which the French term feuille morte, or 

 fond laque, a brown or coffee tint, derived from ferruginous clay. This 

 artist was known as Su-kung, "Mr. Pots," or Huyintao-jen, " the Taoist 

 hidden in a pot," apparently pseudonyms adopted by him in allusion 

 to an old legend preserved in the ShSn-hsien-cJmanj an ancient work 

 on Taoist immortals, and signed his jars with the mark Su-yiii-lao-jenj 

 " the old man hidden in the pot." According to the legend, Flu-kung, 

 the Old Man of the Pot, was a magician, endowed with marvellous 

 powers of healing, who lived during the third and fourth centuries, and 

 was accustomed to distribute in charity the vast sums he received in 

 payment for his miraculous cures. He disappeared each night from 

 mortal view, his retreat remaining a mystery till he was watched, when 

 it was discovered that the leech was accustomed to withdraw at sunset 

 to the interior of a hollow gourd which hung from a door-post. Julien 

 translated these characters as le vieillard ou qui vit dans le retraite : 

 but says Dr. Hirth " it seems to me that these four characters have rather 

 an epigrammatic sense, and if translated into Latin would be among 

 the most delicious of Martial's Apophoreta; for the 'old man,' as the 

 clever maker styles himself, ' is concealed in the pot,' like the fairy 

 H. Mis. 142, pt. 2 27 



