Note 278 — Chapter IX

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.