Chapter iii.), it will be seen that this paste differs in the greater

proportion of silica and in the presence of iron. It differs from earthen-ware, on the other hand, by its containing magnesia and potash. The faience of Persia must, therefore, be treated with extreme caution; and the authorities must be consulted with care, since what one calls pottery, another treats of as soft porcelain. Of that coming most nearly to what we understand by the word “faience”--that is, a perfectly opaque ware--some of the specimens are glazed, and others are covered with only a thin lustre or varnish. Very fine examples are found in the wall-tiles taken from the different mosques. The same style of ornament was applied to these and to vases, and its general character has already been designated. Arabesques and flowers--some imitations of the natural and others altogether conventional--are profusely spread upon both, with a boundless wealth of rich color. The forms assumed by the various vessels differ very widely from each other. Cups, open dishes with rims of varying breadth, and a number of water-vessels illustrate certain manners of the Persians. The color and ornamentation are distinctive. The favorite ground colors were the blues of copper and cobalt, and these alternate with red, and yellow tinged with red. The ornamentation is very often white. The Mosque of Sultaneah has already been described (see page 39). In others the colors are reversed, _i. e._, white is used for the ground and blue for the decoration. At times we see the Persian love of the chase triumphing over the Mohammedan prohibition of the employment of animal figures, by the introduction of hares or gazelles, generally upon grounds of light shades of green and blue. Some of the most remarkable plaques belong to the same period, and in both the earlier and later examples the coloring is exceedingly rich and effective. What the latter lose in simplicity they gain in brilliancy. Some pieces, apparently of great age, have a close resemblance to the céladon of China. The vases _a reflet métallique_ are either blue, or white with yellow ornamentation. The art of applying the lustre seems to have disappeared about the middle of the seventeenth century. The tiles of this kind date mostly from the time of the Mogul Dynasty. The larger plaques measure sometimes six feet by eight feet; the smaller tiles without inscriptions are star and cross shaped fitted together in a mosaic.

PORCELAIN.

Had Persia a True Porcelain?--Classification, and the Difficulties Attending It.--Decoration.--Classes Formed by Prevailing Color.

Although the discussion was long maintained, whether or not Persia produced a true kaolinic porcelain, there seems to be no real ground for doubting that such was the case. That India produced porcelain we have already seen, and it becomes a question whether the art was not practised elsewhere in Central Asia. The evidence bearing upon the point clearly shows that Persia possessed the materials for making a pure kaolinic porcelain. The presence of Chinese works and styles does not affect the question. These may either have been the work of Persian artists imitating Chinese models, or of Chinese artists working in Persian material. The Persians call porcelain _tchini_, a name clearly indicating that in one of the above ways they were indebted to the Chinese.

By reason of the qualities of the paste already noted, the classification of Persian porcelain is a matter of some difficulty. The analysis which could alone decide the class to which the specimens belong is in a great measure wanting. It may be inferred that two pieces, apparently distinct in composition, may be really identical, and representative merely of the successive changes effected by firing upon the silicious paste. The most ancient kind is not older than the Mussulman incursion. When subjected to a great heat it melts like glass.

[Illustration: Fig. 143.--Persian Porcelain Wine Bottle. Decoration in Blue. (Jacquemart Coll.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 144.--Porcelain Narghili.]

What is called “soft porcelain” is not, properly speaking, a distinct variety. It differs from the others in decoration, but not to any perceptible extent in composition. The paste is very translucent, and the glaze even. The external decoration is frequently blue or a tint of mixed brown and yellow, upon which appear flowers and arabesques (Fig. 143). Cups and basins are the shapes most frequently occurring, and the first decorative feature is that the outside and inside are seldom alike. The latter may be white, with copper-lust re decoration, and the outside may be in either of the two colors above mentioned. A style of decoration very widely followed consists of a series of holes cut in the paste round the rim of the basin or bowl, and filled in with the glaze. This method was adopted at a very early period, and reappears in the “grains of rice” work of China. A later specimen--probably not more than two hundred years old--of Persian “soft” porcelain has its upper and lower parts in blue and white, with lustred ornamentation.

Persian natural porcelain, about which writers have disputed, and called by the Persians _tchini_, is closely related to the Chinese. An entire class is characterized by its decoration of incised lines and blue painting under the glaze. The paste is somewhat coarse, and lacks cohesion. As to the antiquity of this quality, all that can be said is that it was produced a long time prior to the fifteenth century. Red and gold are seldom employed with blue, but rather characterize a distinct class. Green was much more indiscriminately employed, as, for example, with blue, brown, red, and gold. The céladons are to be distinguished from the Chinese, not by the color--for they show the beautiful old green of their Chinese counterparts--but by the design and form. All that remains to be added is, that, like every other people to whom the higher secrets of ceramic art were open, the Persians attached a very great value to the best works in both porcelain and pottery. The former is, in their literature, constantly associated with gold and other precious materials.

BOOK III.--EUROPE.