68 CHINESE IDEAS OF ANTIQUES 



circumambient crackly lines interlacing the whole surface. 

 The external surface resembled jade, which made the wares 

 to be much prized and even coveted in every age. The 

 potteries of the elder brother, however, only produced an 

 inferior class of porcelain, the colour of which was a dull 

 white, with broken circumambient lines, and was known as 

 the Peh Kih Sui (6 3S#)- These kilns became known all over 

 the land as the Ko (If) or elder brother potteries. 



The Long Ch'uen (fl Si) Potteries. 



These potteries were the property of Chang-erh-ko 

 (S n If) and were situated in the prefecture of Ch'u Cheo 

 (&#!)) in the county of Lung Ch'uen (fl Si) and in the 

 parish of Liu T'ien (life ffl)- The porcelain produced by 

 these potteries was of excellent quality, principally owing 

 to the superior quality of the Kao Lin, and feltspar. The 

 wares produced were of a very high order. They were of 

 an. onion green colour, complete in the minutest details : 

 and keenly competed with the Kwan (If) porcelain for the 

 first place on the market. Unfortunately the workmanship 

 was inferior to the Kwan potteries, and the models also 

 lacked the ancient style and elegant "flower " of its com- 

 petitor. 



The Lung Ch'uen wares were heavy, durable and suited 

 for general use. The original colours were somewhat as 

 follows, (1) Whitish Green (»#), (2) Dark Green (*»), 

 (3) Light Green (&#)• At the present time the best colour 

 is the onion green : while the remainder are generally of 

 an oily green colour : but all are decidedly inferior to the 

 ancient productions of these potteries. 



The Ting (S£) Porcelain. 



The Ting potteries were situated at Ting Cheo (feffl), 

 and were at the height of their fame during the Northern 

 Sung period (A.D. 960 to 1126). The Porcelain produced 

 by these kilns was of a snow white colour : but occasionally 

 purple and black specimens made their appearance. These 

 dark coloured wares, however, all had a white core, which 

 after glazing developed characteristic tear-drop like marks 

 on to their surface. The ornamented varieties of the Ting 

 porcelain were of three kinds, (1) hand painted sketches 

 of flowers, (2) flowers delineated on the wares by the 

 pricking or tattooing methods, (3) flowers printed on the 

 porcelain itself. The flowers most commonly imitated for 

 beautifying purposes were as follows : (1) The Palonia- 

 muhtan : which is believed to be the king of flowers, and 



