Note 380 — Chapter XIV

Bk. vii., fol. 16. "This is the ware which was first made at Yang–chiang Hsien in the Chao–ch´ing Fu in Kuangtung. It is, in fact, an imitation of the Yang–tz´ŭ ware. Consequently, the Records of the Province state that the productions of Yang–chiang in Kuangtung include 'porcelain wares' (tz´ŭ ch´i). I have seen incense burners (lu), vases (p´ing), cups (chien), plates (t´ieh), bowls (wan), dishes (p´an), pots (hu), and boxes (ho) of this manufacture. They are very ornamental and bright, but in taste, fineness, elegance, and lustre they are not equal to porcelain wares. Nor have they been able to avoid the occurrence of flaws exposing the body, which are unsightly. Still they are imitated at T´ang's manufactory, the imitations being admirable in their elegance and lustre, and excelling the Kuang yao. These, like the Tz´ŭ–Chou and Hsü–Chou types of ware, are none of them made of porcelain clay." The T´ao chêng chi shih states: "He (i.e. T´ang Ying) imitates singularly well the Kuang yao glaze, being particularly successful with the spotted blue (ch´ing tien ) kind of glaze. Following this author, imitations were also made of the copies produced at T´ang's factory." The greater part of this passage seems to contain a confusion of ideas. Yang–tz´ŭ or "foreign porcelain" was the name given to the painted Canton enamels which are described on the next page of the T´ao lu under that heading. The passage beginning "I have seen" and ending "equal to porcelain wares" is taken almost verbatim from the sections which deal with Canton enamels and cloisonné enamels. The remark on "imitation of the Yang–tz´ŭ ware" could by no stretch of imagination be applied to the mottled Kuang yao; but it does apply to the large group of porcelain obtained in the white from Ching–tê Chên and painted at Canton precisely in the style of the Canton enamels (see vol. ii., p. 243). This is no doubt what the author had in his mind. The sentence about the unsightly flaws can apply to either the enamels or the Kuang yao, but more particularly to the latter. For the rest, "T´ang's factory" is the Imperial factory at Ching–tê Chên, which was under the management of the celebrated T´ang Ying between 1728 and 1749.