Note 255 — Chapter IX
Reading edition
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 of the word (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 seems to have been "a pipe for blowing up the furnace."
