CHAPTER IX

CHÜN WARES AND SOME OTHERS

_Chün Chou_ [Chinese] _ware_[251]

THE Chün ware is said to have been first made in the early part of the Sung dynasty at Chün Chou or Chün-t´ai, the modern Yü Chou in the K´ai-fêng Fu in Honan. Like the Lung-ch´üan celadon, thanks to its strength and solidity, it has survived in sufficient numbers to give us some idea of the qualities which Chinese writers have described in picturesque terms. That it finds no mention in the _Cho kêng lu_ and the _Ko ku yao lun_ seems to imply that it was not appreciated by the virtuosi of the fourteenth century, owing, no doubt, to the fact that, as hinted in later works, it was chiefly destined for everyday uses and aimed at serviceable qualities rather than "antique elegance." By the end of the Ming dynasty, however, its beautiful glazes had won it a place among the celebrated Sung wares, although even at this time certain varieties only were considered estimable. The _Ch´ing pi ts´ang_, for instance, which appears to rank the Chün ware above that of Lung-ch´üan, gives the following criticism: "The Chün Chou ware, which is red like rouge, is highly prized; that which is _ch´ing_ like onion blue (_ts´ung ts´ui_), and that which is purplish brown (_tzŭ_) like ink, are esteemed second; single-coloured pieces, which have the numerals one, two, etc., as marks on the bottom, are choice; the specimens of this ware with mixed colours (_tsa sê_) are not worth collecting." It was not long, however, before even the despised "mixed colours" were not only appreciated by collectors, but studiously imitated by the Ching-tê Chên potters.

The body of the wares, which are now classed as "Chün type," varies considerably in quality and texture. The choicest examples in Western collections, usually deep flower pots or shallow bulb bowls with lovely glazes of dove grey, lavender, crushed strawberry, dappled purple and crimson, and other tints, are made of a clay which, though dark-coloured on the exterior, shows considerable refinement and closeness of texture within. It is, in fact, a porcellanous ware of whitish grey tone. It is noticed that these pieces are almost always marked with incised Chinese numerals, and there are critics who would confine the Chün wares to this group alone. But it is clear from a passage in the _Po wu yao lan_[252] that there were other types in which the body was of "yellow sandy earthenware," coarse and thick, and without refinement, with all the characteristics, in fact, of the ware which these same critics habitually relegate to the category of _Yüan tz´ŭ_, or ware of the Yüan dynasty. But we shall return to this question later. Modern Chinese collectors, we are told,[253] in recognition of these distinctions, classify Chün wares in two groups, _tz´ŭ t´ai_ (porcelain body) and _sha t´ai_ (sandy, or coarse-grained, body).

The Chün glazes are of the thick, opalescent kind which flows sluggishly and often stops short of the base in a thick, wavy roll or in large drops. On the upper edges of the ware they are thin and more or less transparent and colourless, but in the lower parts and the hollows in which the glaze collects in thick masses the depth and play of the colour are wonderful. These irregularities are specially noticeable on the coarse bodies, but even on the more refined specimens where the glaze has a smoother flow and more even distribution, the colour is never quite continuous or unbroken. In the opalescent depths of the glaze, bubbles, streaks, hair-lines, and often decided dappling are observed, and a scarcely perceptible crackle is usually present.[254] Some of these markings which variegate the surface of the Chün wares have been noticed by Chinese writers as "hare's fur marking" and "flames of blue."[255] Others, which appear to be irregular partings in the colour of the glaze, have been named _ch´iu ying wên_ or "earthworm marks." These last rarely appear except on the finer type of Chün wares, and, like the "tear stains" on the Ting porcelains, they are regarded as signs of authenticity.

[Illustration: PLATE 35

Flower pot of Chün Chou ware of the Sung Dynasty.

Grey porcellanous body; olive brown glaze under the base and the numeral _shih_ (ten) incised. Height (without the wooden stand) 5⅞ inches.

_Eumorfopoulos Collection._ ]

Though the beautiful Chün wares of the _tz´ŭ t´ai_ group will always be rare and costly, Western collectors have been fortunate in securing a fair number of specimens, and a wonderful series of them was brought together in March, 1914, in the exhibition held by the Japan Society of New York. The forms of the flower pots vary considerably. Some have globular body with high spreading neck and wide mouth; others are bell-shaped like a deep cup; others are deep bowls with sides shaped in six or eight lobes like the petals of a flower; others are of quatrefoil form; and others of oblong rectangular shape with straight sides expanding towards the mouth. The saucers in which they stood are shallow bowls corresponding in form to the pots, but supported by three or four feet which are usually shaped like the conventional cloud scroll or _ju-i_ head. They are otherwise without ornament, except in the case of the plain rounded saucers, which have two bands of raised studs or bosses, borrowed, no doubt, from a bronze vessel. These flower pots and saucers are almost invariably incised with a numeral under the base, and the fact that when the pots and saucers fit properly the numerals on each are found to tally seems to indicate they are, as suggested below, size numbers. But there is no doubt that the saucers or stands were often used separately as bulb bowls, like the vessels of similar shape which are found in celadon and other wares. Vases of the fine Chün ware are occasionally seen. There is a choice example in the Pierpont Morgan Collection, a small ovoid vase with flat base; and in the same collection is a low beaker-shaped vase with flaring neck and globular body strengthened with four square ribs in imitation of a bronze.[256] No numbers have appeared so far on any of these vases, nor, as far as I am aware, on any Sung Chün wares except the flower pots and saucers. I have, however, seen dishes on which a number has been subsequently cut, and numbers occur on later copies of the Chün types described below.

The numerals engraved under the base of the flower pots, saucers, and bulb bowls in the finer Chün wares range from 1-10. Their significance has given rise to some debate, but the most reasonable theory seems to be that they indicate the sizes of the different forms, No. 1 being the largest, though an extra large bulb bowl[257] in the Eumorfopoulos Collection has the additional mark [Chinese] _ta_ (great). This is the view which, I believe, is usually accepted in China, and Mr. Eumorfopoulos, who has an exceptional series of these wares, has applied the test to all he has seen, and has found the size theory to hold good in all but a few cases, for which an explanation may yet be found.[258] Another suggestion, supported by some American collectors of note, such as Mr. Freer and Mr. Peters, is that the numbers refer to the Imperial kilns, and that the pieces so marked are Imperial wares. Whether the former theory will continue to stand the test of application to every fresh specimen remains to be seen. With regard to the latter, I shall give reasons presently for doubting that any special Imperial patronage was extended to this kind of ware; and whatever truth there may be in this explanation of the numbers, it is highly improbable that any serious evidence can ever be produced to sustain it.

[Illustration: PLATE 36

Chün Wares

Fig. 1.--Flower pot of six-foil form. Chün Chou ware of the Sung dynasty. The base is glazed with olive brown and incised with the numeral san (three). Height 7¾ inches. _Alexander Collection._

Fig. 2.--Bowl of Chün type, with close-grained porcellanous body of yellowish colour. Sung dynasty. Diameter 5¾ inches. _Eumorfopoulos Collection._

Fig. 1

Fig. 2 ]

It would be possible to construct a formidable list of the colours which appear in the Chün glazes, though many of the accidental effects would be very difficult to describe. On the edge and salient parts where the glaze is thin the colour is usually a transparent olive green which passes with the thickening of the glaze into a frothy grey shot with fine purple streaks. The grey sometimes remains thick and opaque, covering large areas, and it is liable to become frosted over with a dull film of crab-shell green. It is in this frosting and in the opaque curded grey that the =V=-shaped and serpentine partings known as "earthworm marks" most frequently occur; and sometimes a steel blue colour emerges in these partings and in small spots in the grey. For under the grey there seems to be always blue and red struggling upwards towards the surface. Hence the blue and lavender tinge which is so constant, the _t´ien lan_ of the Chinese. But it is the red which almost always triumphs, emerging in fine streaks of purple, crimson or coral, like the colour lines in shot silk, or in strong flecks and dappling, completely overpowering the grey, which only remains on sufferance in a few fleecy clouds. The fine lines of colour are usually associated with a smooth silken surface to which a faint iridescence gives additional lustre; whereas the strongly dappled and mottled glaze is full of bubbles and pinholes (sometimes called "ant tracks" by the Chinese) which give the surface the seeded appearance of a strawberry. The red dappling is usually opaque and tending towards crimson or rouge red. It will be seen that the red varies in quantity from a mere tinge or flush to the intensity almost of a monochrome, and in tone from a pale or deep lavender to aubergine, plum purple, rose crimson, and rouge red. Making allowance for the capricious nature of Chinese colour words, these tints will be found to correspond with several of those indicated in the Yung Chêng list quoted on p. 119. On rare examples the grey and red colours are in abeyance, and the dominant tint is the transparent olive green, which is usually confined to the edges. This and the crab-shell green mentioned above supply the green shades which the Chinese writers include among the Chün colours.

But none of these glazes can with strict accuracy be described as monochromes "of uniformly pure colour" which the _Po wu yao lan_ seems to have regarded as indispensable in the first-class Chün ware. In fact, it is difficult to conceive the possibility of a Chün glaze of perfectly uniform tint, without any trace of the perpetual war waged in the kiln between the red, grey, and blue elements. The nearest approach to a single colour is seen in some of the grey glazes, but here, too, the colour is only relatively pure; and I am convinced that the expression used by the _Po wu yao lan_ is exaggerated, and the meaning is that the nearer the Chün colours approach to uniformity the more they were prized. It is true that several examples depicted in Hsiang's Album are monochrome purple, but I have no more confidence in the colouring of these illustrations than in the carved decoration which is indicated under their glaze, a phenomenon unrecorded in any other Chinese work, unexampled in any known specimen of the ware, and unlikely in view of the nature and the thickness of the Chün glaze itself.

It is clear, however, that an exaggerated mottling of the glaze and a confusion of many colours was viewed with disfavour by the old Chinese connoisseurs. These effects were explained in the _Po wu yao lan_ as due to insufficient firing. Regarded in this light they were viewed with contempt by the earlier Chinese writers and labelled with mocking names, such as _lo kan ma fei_ (mule's liver and horse's lung), pig's liver, and the like. In reality, they were the forerunners of the many delightful _flambé_ glazes which the eighteenth-century potters were able to produce at will when they had learnt that, like all the Chün colours except the brown glaze on the base, they could be obtained from oxide of copper under definite firing conditions. How far the old Chün effects were due to opalescence[259] it is impossible to say, but we know that all of them can be obtained, whether turquoise, green, crimson, or lavender grey, by that "Protean medium," oxide of copper, according as it is exposed in the firing to an oxidising or reducing atmosphere, conditions which could be regulated by the introduction of air on the one hand, or wood smoke on the other, at the right moment into the kiln.

It should be added that the finer Chün wares as seen in the flower pots and stands have an olive or yellowish brown glaze over the base, which in rare instances is overrun by frothy grey or lavender. Another constant feature of these pieces is a ring of small scars or "spur marks" on the base.

[Illustration:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Plate 37.--Chün Chou Ware with porcellanous body (_tz´ŭ t´ai_). Sung dynasty.

Fig. 1.--Flower Pot, with lavender grey glaze. Numeral mark, _ssŭ_ (four). Diameter 8¾ inches. _Eumorfopoulos Collection._

Fig. 2.--Bulb Bowl, of quatrefoil form, pale olive glaze clouded with opaque grey. Numeral mark, _i_ (one). Length 10 inches. _Freer Collection._]

The list of porcelains made at the Imperial factories about 1730[260] includes a series of imitations of Chün glazes from specimens sent from the palace collections, which serve at once to show the variety of Chün colours and the extent to which they were copied. The actual colours described are:

(1) Rose purple (_mei kuei tzŭ_ [Chinese]).

(2) Cherry apple red (_hai t´ang hung_ [Chinese]).

(3) Purple of the aubergine flower (_ch´ieh hua tzŭ_ [Chinese]).

(4) Plum bloom (_mei tzŭ ch´ing_ [Chinese]).

(5) Donkey's liver and horse's lung (_lü kan ma fei_ [Chinese]), with the addition of four kinds obtained from other sources.[261]

(6) Deep purple (_shên tzŭ_ [Chinese]).

(7) "Millet colour" (_mi sê_ [Chinese]).

(8) Sky blue (_t´ien lan_ [Chinese]).

(9) Furnace transmutation or _flambé_ (_yao pien_ [Chinese]).

The potters of the Yung Chêng period (1723-35) succeeded wonderfully in their work of imitation, and existing examples bear witness to the beautiful colour effects which they obtained. The body of the ware, however, was, as a rule, a fine white porcelain,[262] which had to be carefully concealed by the brown glaze on the base. Many of the Yung Chêng specimens are marked with the seal mark of the period, and occasional instances occur in which this mark has been ground off in order to pass the piece as old. I have such a specimen, which was actually bought in the trade for Sung. It is a small dish, with beautiful turquoise green glaze in the centre and a _flambé_ red on the sides. The place where the mark has been ground away when washed clean showed a fine white porcelain body. It is stated in the _T´ao lu_ that the potters at Ching-tê Chên began to imitate the Chün wares towards the end of the Sung dynasty. No evidence is given to support the assertion, which may be merely a local tradition; but one certainly sees occasional specimens with a porcelain body masked by a dark brown clay dressing under the base, the glazes of which obviously imitate the Chün. There are, for instance, saucers and bowls of this kind with purple glaze finely shot with grey on the exterior and a lavender grey inside which appear to be older than the Yung Chêng period, though their shape precludes a greater age than the Ming dynasty.

There are, however, many other imitations of Chün ware in which the body is not of tell-tale white porcelain. The _Po wu yao lan_, for instance, written at the end of the Ming dynasty, states that "in the present day among the recent wares all this type of ware (viz. the Chün type) has the sandy clay of Yi-hsing[263] for its body; the glaze is very similar to the old, and there are beautiful specimens, but they do not wear well." Yi-hsing is the place where the red stoneware tea pots, often called Chinese "buccaro," were made, and we know that a Yi-hsing potter, named Ou, was famous at the end of the Ming dynasty for his imitations of Ko, Kuan, and Chün glazes.[264] A bowl in the British Museum seems to answer the description of Ou's ware. It has a hard red stoneware body, and a thick undulating glaze of pale lavender blue colour, the comparative softness of which is attested by the well-worn surface of the interior.

The "Yung Chêng list" includes yet another type based upon Chün ware. It is called "Chün glaze of the muffle kiln," clearly a low-fired enamel rather than a glaze, whose colour is between the Kuangtung ware and the added[265] glaze of Yi-hsing, though in surface-markings, undulations and transmutation tints it surpasses them. This appears to be the "robin's egg" type of glaze,[266] to use the American collector's phrase, a thick, opaque enamel of pale greenish blue tint flecked with ruby red (see Plate 128).

The manufacture of glazes of the Chün type has continued at Yi-hsing since the days of Ou, and what is called Yi-hsing Chün is still manufactured in considerable quantity, the streaky lavender glazes being of no little merit. When applied to incense burners and vessels of archaic form, they are capable of being passed off as old, though the initiated will recognise them by their want of depth and transparency and by the peculiar satiny lustre of their surface.

[Illustration: PLATE 38

Chün Wares

Fig. 1.--Bowl of eight-foil shape, with lobed sides, of Chün type. Sung dynasty. Close-grained porcellanous ware of yellowish colour. Height 1⅞ inches. _Alexander Collection._

Fig. 2.--Pomegranate-shaped water pot of "Soft Chün" ware. Probably Sung dynasty. Height 3½ inches. _Alexander Collection._

Fig. 1

Fig. 2 ]

Another ware which has a superficial resemblance to Chün yao has been made for a long period at the Kuangtung factories,[267] if it does not actually go back to Sung times. A typical specimen, shown in Plate 51, is a vase of baluster form with wide shoulders strengthened by a collar with foliate edge, and small neck and mouth, ornamented with a handsome lotus scroll in relief. The body is a buff stoneware, and the glaze is thick, opaque, and closely crackled, and of pale lavender grey warming into purple.

Glazes of this kind have been made at several potteries in Japan e.g. Hagi, Akahada, and Seto.[268] Besides such specimens as this, there are many of the streaky, mottled Canton stonewares which are remotely analogous to the variegated Chün wares. The glazes of this type are more fluescent than those described in the preceding paragraph and have greater transparency, and the intention of their makers to imitate Chün types is shown by incised numerals which are occasionally added under the base. They are known in China as Fat-shan Chün, from the locality in which they are made, and though some examples may go back to Ming times, the best may, as a rule, be ascribed to the eighteenth century and the indifferent specimens to the present day.

From this digression on Chün imitations to which the mention of Yi-hsing led us, we must return to the original wares. It has been said that Chinese connoisseurs recognise two groups of Chün ware, the _tz´ŭ t´ai_ and the _sha t´ai_, and there is no doubt that the contrast between the body material of the two is very marked. In explanation of this the Chinese to-day allege[269] that the flower pots and stands were made of a tribute clay sent annually from the Ching-tê Chên district to the "Imperial kilns" at Chün Chou, and that the coarser articles were made of native clays. The story has the air of an _ex post facto_ explanation, and it is open to many grave objections. In the first place it is nowhere mentioned in Chinese literature, and in the second place the Chün Chou kilns, so far from having been described as "Imperial" in the Sung dynasty, are entirely ignored by the earlier writers, and even in the late Ming works, where they are first mentioned, the Chün wares are reckoned as of secondary importance. Thirdly, there does not seem to have been any need to import kaolin, for Chün Chou was in one of the kaolin producing districts of China.[270] There are, moreover, many specimens of the Chün type which hold an intermediate position between the finer flower pots and the coarse "Yüan tz´ŭ" wares, and these have a decidedly porcellanous body, though inclined to be yellowish at the base rim. Some of these have glazes almost as smooth and even as the flower pots, and of a beautiful lavender grey colour with patches or large areas of aubergine or amethystine purple, which in rare cases covers the entire exterior of a bowl. In their finer types they are scarcely distinguishable from the specimens which we have tentatively classed as Kuan on p. 65, and in their coarser kinds they seem to belong to the so-called "Yüan tz´ŭ" which are discussed at the end of this chapter.

Meanwhile, we must consider a very distinctive group to which the term _sha t´ai_, in its sense of "sandy body," applies with particular exactitude. In the catalogue of the New York exhibition of March, 1914, I ventured to differentiate this type by the name of "soft Chün," which its general appearance seems to justify. It is well illustrated in Plates 38 and 39. The body is buff and varies in texture from stoneware to a comparatively soft earthenware not far removed in colour from that of delft or maiolica, though, like so many Chinese bodies, it has a tendency to assume a darker red brown tint where exposed at the foot rim. The glaze is unctuous and thick, but not opaque, often, indeed, showing considerable flow and transparency: it is opalescent, and at times almost crystalline, and endued with much play of colour. It varies from a light turquoise blue of great beauty to lavender and occasionally to a strong blue tint, and, as a rule, it is broken by one or more passages of crimson red or dull aubergine purple, sometimes in a single well-defined patch, sometimes in a few flecks or streaks, and sometimes in large irregular areas. This glaze usually covers the entire exterior and appears again under the base, leaving practically no body exposed except at the actual foot rim. It has been attributed to various factories. The pure turquoise specimens have even been called Ch´ai, and a little piece of this kind was figured by Cosmo Monkhouse[271] as Kuan ware. On the other hand, I am told[272] that it is widely known in China as _Ma chün_,[273] and is usually thought to be of the Ming dynasty, but no reason is assigned for either the name or the date, and both seem to be based on traders' gossip to which no special importance need be attached. A fine vase of this kind in the British Museum has been much admired by Chinese connoisseurs, and they have, as a rule, pronounced it to be Sung. The important specimen (Plate 39) in the FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge, was obtained from a tomb near Nanking,[274] a circumstance which is in favour of an early origin. In other respects this class of ware seems to answer to the aubergine and "sky blue" Chün types described by Chinese writers, and I regard it as one of the Sung varieties of Chün Chou ware, with "yellow, sandy earthenware" body of which the _Po wu yao lan_ makes mention.[275]

[Illustration: PLATE 39

Two examples of "Soft Chün" ware.

Fig. 1.--Vase of buff ware, burnt red at the foot rim, with thick, almost crystalline glaze. Found in a tomb near Nanking and given in 1896 to the FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge. Probably Sung dynasty. Height 8⅛ inches.

Fig. 2.--Vase of yellowish ware with thick opalescent glaze. Yüan dynasty. Height 13⅜ inches.

_Alexander Collection._

Fig. 1

Fig. 2 ]

That it continued to be made after the Sung period is practically certain, and there are specimens which one would unhesitatingly regard as Ming or Yüan from their form. But, on the other hand, the prevailing shapes are of the Sung kind, and we have very little to guide us in dealing with the various Chün types except the form and the quality of the ware. The "soft Chün" was very closely imitated at Yi-hsing on a yellowish body which resembles the original in colour, but is generally harder, with a thick unctuous glaze of somewhat crystalline texture and a turquoise lavender colour, with rather thin and feeble patches of dull crimson, which lack the spontaneous appearance of the originals. These Yi-hsing copies are often marked with an incised numeral like the Canton Chün.

With regard to the duration of the Chün Chou factories, the standard Chinese works on ceramics are curiously silent. They take no account of the ware after the Sung period, and leave us to infer that it either ceased to be made or ceased to be worthy of mention after that time. In two places only have I found any hint of its survival in later times. One is an incidental mention of Sung, Yuan, and Ming Chün wares in a modern work,[276] and the other is in the pottery (not the porcelain) section in the great K´ang Hsi Encyclopædia.[277] The latter passage is taken from the administrative records of the Ming dynasty, and contains two references to large supplies of vases (_p´ing_ and _t´an_) and wine jars obtained from Chün Chou and Tz´ŭ Chou in the Hsüan Tê period (1426-1436) and in the year 1553 of the Chia Ching period. We further learn that in 1563 an Imperial edict abolished both the tax which had previously been levied on the Chün Chou wares and the subsidy which had to a great extent counterbalanced the tax. These documents prove beyond doubt that potteries of considerable size existed at Chün Chou in the Ming dynasty, though their mention in this particular context seems to imply that the ware was no longer ranked among the porcelains, and had apparently ceased to be regarded as an artistic production.

From this time onwards to the present day the ceramic history of this district is a blank, and we are unable to say whether the modern Yü Chou pottery is a continuation or only a revival of the ancient art of the place. A specimen of this modern ware in the Field Museum, Chicago, has close affinities with the "soft Chün." Its base shows a buff stoneware body washed over with dark brown clay, and the glaze is somewhat opalescent though thinner than the old glaze, and its colour is a light blue of a tint more grey than turquoise. Quantities of this modern Yü Chou ware are to be found in Peking, and occasionally it is passed off as old Chün, but no one with experience of the originals would be deceived by it.

Finally, there is the important group of wares obviously belonging to the Chün family but commonly described as Yüan tz´ŭ or ware of the Yüan dynasty (1280-1367), although no sanction for this name is found in the older Chinese books. The ware, however, is fairly common in the form of bowls, shallow dishes, and, more rarely, vases and incense burners. The bowls which are the most familiar examples are usually of conical form, with slightly contracted mouth and small foot, coated with thick fluescent glazes, which form in deep pools at the bottom within, and end outside in thick drops or a billowy line some distance above the base, leaving a liberal amount of the body material exposed to view. The body is of the _sha t´ai_ class and usually of coarse grain, varying from a dark iron grey to buff stoneware and soft brick red earthenware, though, as already noted, there are finer specimens which link it with the _tz´ŭ t´ai_ group. It is this roughness of substance which has caused the ware to be relatively little esteemed in China, for the glaze is often of singular beauty. The varieties in colour are innumerable and clearly due to the opalescence of the thick, bubbly glaze, combined with the ever-changing effects of copper oxide on a highly fired ware. Lavender grey, dove grey, brown, and grey green are conspicuous, but as the thickness of the glaze varies with its downward flow, so the colour changes in tone and intensity from a thin, almost colourless skin on the upper edges to deep pools of mingled tints where the glaze has collected in thick masses. It is usually streaky and shot with fine lines of colour, but sometimes there are large areas of misty grey or greenish brown tones too subtle for description. A section of these glazes will generally disclose the presence of red, and this red often bursts out on the surface in patches which contrast vividly with the surrounding tones. If the patches are large they will be found to shade off into green in the centre or at the edges. It should be added that crackle is almost always present, though it varies much in intensity and does not seem to have been intentional.

[Illustration:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Plate 40.--Chün Chou Ware.

Fig. 1.--Bulb Bowl, porcellanous ware with lavender grey glaze passing into mottled red outside. Numeral mark, _i_ (one). Sung dynasty. Diameter 9¼ inches. _Eumorfopoulos Collection._

Fig. 2.--Vase of dense reddish ware, opalescent glaze of pale misty lavender with passages of olive and three symmetrical splashes of purple with green centres. Sung or Yuan dynasty. Height 10⅜ inches. _Peters Collection._]

[Illustration:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Plate 41.--Chün Chou Ware.

Fig. 1.--Dish with peach spray in relief. Variegated lavender grey glaze with purplish brown spots and amethyst patches, frosted in places with dull green. Sung dynasty. Diameter 8½ inches. _Freer Collection._

Fig. 2.--Vase and Stand, smooth lavender grey glaze. Sung or Yüan dynasty. Height 7¾ inches. _Alexander Collection._]

Decoration of any kind is unusual on these wares except on the large tripod incense burners, which often have slight applied reliefs in the form of animals, dragons, or peony sprays. Mr. Freer's dish (Plate 41, Fig. 1) with the raised floral spray is quite exceptional.

Whatever the verdict may be on the technical qualities of these rugged pieces as compared with more finely finished porcelain, there can be no doubt of the artistic merit of the subtle glaze colours, and I have seen people whose undoubted taste in other forms of art had not previously been directed to things ceramic, display a sudden and unexpected enthusiasm over the rough Yüan bowls. The peculiar shape of these bowls--which, without their foot take the form of a half coco-nut--has raised the question whether it can be in any way connected with the Polynesian khava bowls. The latter are actually made of coco-nut, and, curiously enough, their interior after much use acquires a vivid patina, whose colour recalls some of the Yüan tz´ŭ glazes. The resemblance, however, remarkable as it is, can only be accidental, for it is practically certain that the tints of these ceramic glazes were quite unforeseen. Long use has usually given the surface of the Yüan tz´ŭ a smooth, worn feeling, but in its first freshness the glaze had a very high and brilliant lustre. This is shown by a few pieces which have lately been sent from China, where they were excavated evidently on the site of the old factory, and still remain in their seggars or fireclay cases to which they became attached by some accident in the kiln. These and other spoilt pieces or wasters would be of immense interest if only the circumstance of their finding had been faithfully recorded. Unfortunately, however, they passed through many hands before reaching Europe, and we have only hearsay to support the statement that they were found in the neighbourhood of Honan Fu. The locality is a likely enough spot and not remote from Chün Chou, but we must consider that the real origin of the Yüan tz´ŭ has yet to be settled, and we must still remain in doubt whether the ware is a coarse variety of Sung Chün Chou ware, a continuation of that manufacture in the Yüan dynasty, or the production of a different factory. Judging from the character of the glazes, I am inclined to accept the first two alternatives, which are not mutually exclusive, for while many of the specimens have the appearance of Sung wares, there is every reason to suppose that the manufacture continued through the Yüan period. The formula, "Sung or Yüan ware of Chün type," adopted in the catalogue of the exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1910, is a discreet compromise which may well be retained till further evidence from China is forthcoming.

The evidence of Sir Aurel Stein's excavations in the regions of Turfan, imperfect as it is, points to the existence of this kind of ware at least as early as the Sung dynasty. Fragments with the typical glaze of the so-called Yüan-tz´ŭ were found, for instance, on a site which was thought to have been closed in the Sung dynasty, and again at Vash-shahri, which was "believed to have been occupied down to the eleventh or twelfth century." Making ample allowance for error in calculating the dates of these buried cities, we may still fairly consider that some of these finds come within the limits of the Sung dynasty.

_Chien_ [Chinese] _yao_

This ware, which has already been mentioned in several passages, originated at Chien-an, but the factory was subsequently removed to the neighbouring Chien-yang. Both places are in the Chien-ning Fu, in the province of Fukien, and the term Chien yao derives from the character _chien_, which occurs in all these place names. The beginning of the manufacture is unknown, but it certainly dates back to the early Sung period, being mentioned in a tenth-century work,[278] and the potteries were still flourishing at the commencement of the Yüan dynasty.[279] A characteristic specimen figured in Plate 42 is a tea bowl with soft, dark brown earthenware body and thick, lustrous, purplish black glaze, mottled and streaked with golden brown. The brown forms a solid band at the mouth and tails off into streaks and drops on the sides, finally disappearing in a thick mass of black. The spots and streaks of brown suggested to Chinese writers the markings on a partridge's breast or on hare's fur, and the bowls are usually known as "hare's fur cups"[280] or "partridge cups." The dark colour of the glaze made them specially suitable for the tea-testing competitions which were in fashion in the Sung period, the object of the contest being to see whose tea would stand the largest number of waterings, and it was found that the least trace of the tea was visible against the black glaze of the Chien bowls. The testimony of an eleventh-century writer[281] on this point is of interest. "The tea," he says, "is light in colour and suits the black cups. Those made at Chien-an are purplish black (_kan hei_) with markings like hare's fur. Their material, being somewhat thick, takes long to heat, and when hot does not quickly cool, which makes them specially serviceable. No cups from any other place can equal them. Green (_ch´ing_) and white cups are not used in the tea-testing parties."

[Illustration:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Plate 42.--Two _Temmoku_ Bowls, dark-bodied Chien yao of the Sung dynasty.

Fig. 1.--Tea Bowl (_p´ieh_), purplish black glaze flecked with silvery drops. Diameter 7½ inches. _Freer Collection._ Fig. 2.--Tea Bowl with purplish black glaze shot with golden brown. Height 3¾ inches. _British Museum._]

The Chinese tea contests were adopted by the Japanese, who elaborated them into the curious ceremony known as _Cha no yu_, which later assumed a semi-political aspect. The Japanese _Cha jin_ (initiates of the tea ceremony) have always prized the Chien yao bowls, to which they gave the name _temmoku_, and Brinkley speaks of a great variety of Chien yao glazes which he saw in Japan. Of some he says that "on a ground of mirror black are seen shifting tints of purple and blue; reflections of deep green, like the glossy colour of the raven's wing; lines of soft silver, regular as hair." The tea-testing contests seem to have lost popularity in China at an early date, and late Ming writers took little interest in the partridge cups, which one[282] at least of them voted "very inferior." In Japan, on the other hand, the vogue of the tea ceremonies has continued unabated to modern times, and no doubt the Chien bowls were eagerly acquired by the Japanese æsthetes. Hence their rarity in China to-day. Moreover, the Japanese potters of Seto and elsewhere have copied them with astonishing cleverness, so that the best Seto imitations are exceedingly difficult to distinguish from the originals. The ordinary run of the Japanese copies, however, are recognised by a body of lighter tint and finer, more porcellanous texture, besides their general imitative character and the Japanese touch which is learnt by observation but is not easy to define in words.

Though we hear nothing further of this Chien yao after the Yüan dynasty it is practically certain that the manufacture of pottery of some sort continued in the district. A small pot of buff stoneware with a translucent brown glaze (much thinner than that of the hare's fur bowls and without the purple tint or the golden brown markings) was found in a tomb near, Chien-ning Fu with an engraved slab dated 1560. The find was made by the Rev. H.S. Phillips, who presented the pot, with a rubbing of the inscription, to the British Museum.

In addition to the characteristic _temmoku_ we have now quite a large family of bowls, dishes, jars, and vases with thick purplish black glazes more or less diversified by golden brown and tea-dust green, which are at present grouped with the Chien yao pending some more precise information as to their origin. They are, however, distinguished by a coarse porcellanous body of greyish white or buff colour, and I understand that many of the bowls have come from excavations in Honan; and there are features in the ornament and in the ware itself which suggest that they date back as far as the T´ang period. Fig. 3 of Plate 43, for instance, with its large brown mottling on a black glaze, is analogous in form and material to the white-glazed T´ang wares and in the mottling of the glaze to the typical T´ang polychrome. The bowls, which are usually small and shallow with straight sides, wide mouth, and very narrow foot, or with rounded sides slightly contracting at the mouth, have neither the weight of material nor smooth solidity of glaze which characterise the true Chien yao. On the other hand, they are more varied in the play of black and brown, and in some cases they have designs and patterns which are clearly intentional. The two extremes of colour are a monochrome black, usually of purplish tint but sometimes brownish, and a lustrous brown often decidedly reddish in tone. Between these come the black glazes which are more or less variegated with brown in the form of mottling, streaks, tears, irregular patches, and definite patterns. The glaze in these bowls usually extends to the foot rim, and sometimes reappears in a patch under the base. The ornament in some cases takes the form of rosettes or plum blossom designs in T´ang style incised through the glaze covering; in others, as in Fig. 1 of Plate 43, we find a leaf design (evidently stencilled from a real leaf) expressed in brown or dull tea green; and occasionally there are more ambitious designs, such as a hare or bird or foliage, incised. On a red brown bowl in the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst at Cologne there are traces of a floral pattern in a lustrous medium which resembles faded gilding.

[Illustration:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Plate 43.--Three Examples of "Honan _temmoku_," probably T´ang dynasty.

Fig. 1.--Bowl with purplish black glaze, stencilled leaf in golden brown. Diameter 6 inches. _Havemeyer Collection._

Fig. 2.--Ewer with black glaze. Height 4¾ inches. _Alexander Collection._

Fig. 3.--Covered Bowl, black mottled with lustrous brown. Height 7 inches. _Cologne Museum._]

We have already noted how the purplish black glaze of the Tz´ŭ Chou ware breaks into lustrous brown; the black Ting ware and the debateable red Ting have been discussed; and if we add this family which may perhaps be provisionally described as Honan _temmoku_, it would appear that glazes analogous to those of the Chien yao "hare's fur" bowls were widely used in Northern China at an early date.

A word of explanation may appropriately be added here of the expression _wu-ni yao_,[283] which occurs in several passages in Chinese books on pottery. It means "black clay ware," and as a general term would naturally include the "hare's fur bowls." Indeed, one passage[284] actually speaks of the _wu-ni yao_ of Chien-an, and the _T´ao lu_, which gives the ware a paragraph to itself, states that it was made at Chien-an, in Chien-ning Fu, beginning in the Sung dynasty, and that its clay was black. It further adds that the glaze is "dry and parched" and that it was sometimes green (_ch´ing_). It is clear from the above quotations that _wu-ni yao_ was a general expression for the dark-bodied Chien ware; and there the matter would have ended had not early works, such as the _Cho kêng lu_ and _Ko ku yao lun_, mentioned it in the category of Kuan and Ko wares, the former naming it with the Hsün and Yu-hang wares, which were inferior to the Kuan, and the latter adding to the passage dealing with Kuan wares the following note: "There are black wares which are called _wu-ni yao_, all of which were imitated at Lung-ch´üan. They have no crackle." The _Po wu yao lan_, however, explains that these wares "were admitted _by confusion_ into the category of Kuan and Ko wares," and that the "error has been handed down to this day." Probably it was the green variety which caused the confusion, as there seems no reason why the black glazes should have been associated with the Kuan class, though the dark red clay of the Phœnix Hill from which the Hang Chou Kuan ware was made may have had some resemblance to the dark red brown body of the Chien yao. As for the Lung-ch´üan imitations, we can only imagine that the statement refers to the later Ko wares, which are said to have been made with material brought from Hang Chou,[285] and that their glaze, too, was of the green variety, as would be expected in the Lung-ch´üan district, the home of the green celadons. At the same time it will be remembered that _wu-ni yao_ means simply "black clay ware," and might have been fairly applied to any dark-bodied ware wheresoever made.

As already mentioned, many fragments of pottery were included in the important finds made by Sir Aurel Stein in his excavations in Turfan. Unfortunately, many of the sites have little evidential value, because they have clearly been revisited at comparatively late periods; but there are a few localities which ceased to be inhabited as early as the Sung dynasty, and which furnished fragments of glazed pottery and porcellanous wares. I only mention those sites which, as far as these finds are concerned, were not vitiated by the occurrence of obviously recent wares. On one site named Ushaktal, supposed to have been abandoned in the Sung dynasty, if not before, were fragments of greenish brown celadon with combed ornament on the body, such as was certainly made in Corea and probably in China as well. The same site produced opalescent glazes of the Chün and Yüan type. The site of Vash-shahri, which was "occupied probably down to the eleventh or twelfth century," produced a number of interesting fragments (1) with buff and grey stoneware bodies and glazes of the opalescent Chün and Yüan kinds, (2) the same body with emerald green crackled glaze, (3) celadon glazes over carved ornament, (4) speckled olive brown glaze resembling the later "tea dust," (5) opaque dark brown glaze, (6) speckled dark purplish brown glazes, (7) thick greenish glaze evenly dappled with pale bluish grey spots.

Early wares found on the mixed sites, such as Kan Chou and Hsi Yung ch´êng, which were occupied down to Sung times but evidently visited later, include carved white porcelain and creamy white ware of the _t´u Ting_ class, and several kinds of _Tz´ŭ Chou_ wares, the _graffiato_, as well as the black painted. But evidence from excavations of this kind is always open to the objection that the ruins may have been visited later, and the broken pottery dropped by subsequent explorers. This objection, however, cannot reasonably be offered to more than a small proportion of the objects found, and these finds, though not in themselves conclusive, may be regarded, at any rate, as valuable corroboration of existing theories.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 251: [Chinese] is an alternative form of [Chinese].]

[Footnote 252: Bk. ii., fol. 7 verso. In discussing the glazes with mixed colour, the author says: "Of these wares, the sword-grass bowls and their saucers alone are refined. The other kinds, like the garden seats, boxes, square vases, and flower jars, are all of yellow sandy earthenware. Consequently, they are coarse and thick, and not refined." The first sentence is difficult, and has given rise to much discussion. The word _ti_, which Bushell has (rightly, I think) rendered saucers, literally means "bottom" or "base." Hirth reads it, "Those which have bottoms like the flower pots in which sword-grass is grown are considered the most excellent"; and Julien appears to have quite misunderstood the application of the passage. The original is [Chinese]. The shallow saucers in which the deep flower pots stood are often included among the bulb bowls. See Plates 37 and 40.]

[Footnote 253: See the excellent account of the Chün wares by Mrs. Williams in the introduction to the _Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Chinese, Corean, and Japanese Potteries held by the Japan Society of New York, 1914_.]

[Footnote 254: Shrivelled glaze is sometimes seen on the Chün types of pottery. Probably this was at first, at any rate, an accidental effect; but it is the prototype of the "dragon skin" glazes which the Japanese made at a later date. There is a good example in the Eumorfopoulos Collection of a bowl with thick grey Chün glaze, with a patch of reddish colour, and which is shrivelled in the most approved fashion, the glaze contracting into isolated drops and exposing the body between them.]

[Footnote 255: See _T´ao shuo_, bk. ii., fol. 15 verso, quoting the _Liu ch´ing jih cha_. In the case of the former (_t´u ssŭ wên_) some confusion has been caused by a variant reading [Chinese] of the word [Chinese] (_t´u_ = hare), which refers the simile to the "dodder"; but the commoner phrase, "hare's fur marking," is far more descriptive of a dappled surface. Brinkley's explanation of the second phrase, _huo yen ch´ing_, as referring to the blue centre of a tongue of flame, applying the simile to the passages of blue which sometimes occur in the variegated Chün glazes, seems to meet the case. The flame-like effects are mentioned in an interesting passage in the _T´ang chien kung t´ao yeh t´u shuo_ (quoted in the _T´ao lu_, bk. viii., fol. 13): "Men prize the Chün cups, tripods, and incense burners with smoke and flame glaze (_yen huan sê_). Although only pottery, still they combine the unexpected colours produced by the blowing tube (_t´o yo_)." The _t´o yo_ [Chinese] seems to have been "a pipe for blowing up the furnace."]

[Footnote 256: See Hamilton Bell, "'Imperial' Sung Pottery," _Art in America_, July, 1913, p. 182. The Chinese numerals are given on p. 211.]

[Footnote 257: _Cat. B.F.A._, 1910, B 42.]

[Footnote 258: There is an obvious analogy in the "_size 3_" and "_S 2_," etc., incised under the Derby porcelain figures.]

[Footnote 259: See p. 50.]

[Footnote 260: See _Chiang hsi t´ung chih_, vol. xciii, fol. 11 and seq. Quoted also in the _T´ao lu_, and translated by Bushell, _O.C.A._, p. 369; and vol. ii., p. 223, of this work.]

[Footnote 261: _Wai hsin tê_ [Chinese], lit. "recently obtained from outside." Wai evidently contrasts here with _nei_ (the palace), which precedes the first five. Julien, however, gives it the sense "_émaux nouvellement inventés_."]

[Footnote 262: See _T´ao lu_, bk. vi., fol. 7. "As to the ware made at Ching-tê Chên at the present day in imitation of the Chün wares, the body material is all of beautiful quality." This carries the imitation up to the end of the eighteenth century. There are, however, imitations made on a soft pottery body which bear the Yung Chêng mark.]

[Footnote 263: See p. 174.]

[Footnote 264: See p. 181. The list quoted on p. 223 of vol. ii. of the wares made at the Imperial potteries in 1730 includes "glazes of Ou: imitated from old wares of a man named Ou. There are two kinds, one with red markings, the other with blue."]

[Footnote 265: _kua yu_ [Chinese] "applied or added glaze." The significance of the epithet _kua_ lies in the fact that the bulk of the Yi-hsing ware was unglazed.]

[Footnote 266: See Bushell, _O.C.A._, p. 374.]

[Footnote 267: See p. 168.]

[Footnote 268: See _Burlington Magazine_, November, 1909, Plate iv., opp. p. 83.]

[Footnote 269: See Mrs. Williams, loc. cit., p. 33.]

[Footnote 270: The modern Yü Chou. See vol. ii., p. 107.]

[Footnote 271: Op. cit., Plate 1.]

[Footnote 272: By Mr. A.W. Bahr.]

[Footnote 273: The name _Ma_ is supposed to be that of a potter, but the statement is based on oral tradition only. The character used is _ma_ (horse).]

[Footnote 274: It was deposited in the FitzWilliam Museum by Mr. W.H. Caulfield in 1896.]

[Footnote 275: See p. 110.]

[Footnote 276: The _Li t´a k´an k´ao ku ou pien_, of which the British Museum possesses a copy dated 1877.]

[Footnote 277: The _Ch´in ting ku chin t´u shu chi ch´êng_, fol. 10 of the subsection dealing with _t´ao kung_ (the pottery industry), entitled _T´ao kung pu hui k´ao_.]

[Footnote 278: The _Ch´ing yi lu_, quoted in the _T´ao shuo_, bk. v., fol. 16 verso: "In Min (i.e. Fukien) are made tea bowls with ornamental markings like the mottling and spots on a partridge (_chê ku pan_). The tea-testing parties prize them." Oddly enough, the only specimen of this type of ware which I have seen with a date-mark was dated in the reign of Hsien Tê (954-960) of the Posterior Chou dynasty; but the inscription had been cut subsequently to the firing of the ware, and carries little weight. The piece in question is a remarkably large bottle-shaped vase with a splendid purplish black glaze with "hare's fur" marking, in the Eumorfopoulos Collection.]

[Footnote 279: See _T´ao lu_, bk. vii., fol. 8 verso.]

[Footnote 280: [Chinese] _t´u hao chan_.]

[Footnote 281: Ts´ai-hsiang, quoted in the _T´ao shuo_, bk. v., fol. 16 verso.]

[Footnote 282: The _Liu ch´ing jih cha_.]

[Footnote 283: [Chinese]]

[Footnote 284: In the _Liu ch´ing jih cha_.]

[Footnote 285: See p. 72.]