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PAGE PREFACE vii

INTRODUCTORY xiii

INDEX 89

LIST OF PLATES IN COLOUR

BY WILLIAM GIBB

INTRODUCTORY

It is the experience probably of most Western amateurs of porcelain to pass through three successive stages of development in their appreciation of an art which, even for the uninitiated,--for those who have no knowledge of its history and little understanding of its technical aspects,--is not lacking in charm and fascination. For, indeed, there is about most porcelain, of whatever kind, some quality of alluring grace, a daintiness of material, or a pleasing play of colour, which makes an appeal at first sight to the eye of all lovers of things beautiful. Mere casual pleasure in its superficial attractiveness will not fail to give place to an ever-deepening interest for those who will take the pains to learn its inner secrets, to discover in it, expressed in enduring form, the creative power of a craftsman's soul, nay more, a reflection of the very spirit of humanity in its changing moods, varying in conformity with racial differences or environment of time and place. This wondrous product of human skill,--as it were a new stone of rare value added to those which nature has given us,--will assuredly kindle in the hearts of its admirers a desire to learn something of its story. They will find, in their endeavours to understand its mysteries, that their interest is aroused in the first place by the porcelain of their own country, reflecting as it does a culture in the midst of which they have themselves been born and bred.

The English amateur will naturally seek a field for his first studies in English porcelain. It wears a certain air of homeliness which endears it to his heart; its uses and forms are those which are familiar in the daily life of his countrymen; its decoration as a rule makes no exacting demands on his erudition in order to be fully understood. After English porcelain, the collector's attention will most readily be turned to that of the continent of Europe.

His apprenticeship, the first of the three stages to which allusion has been made above, is thus spent in the study of the Western manifestations of the art. As yet he does not understand, and cannot appreciate at their true value, the Eastern wares from which the European trace their descent. In the course of his researches a curiosity can scarcely fail to be stirred in him to know more of these Oriental precursors. His curiosity deepens; his desire to satisfy it brings him at last under a new spell, and the second stage is reached. His enthusiasm is now all for the Chinese; its perfection of material and form, its dazzling beauty of colour, the artistic fitness of its decoration, engage his admiration more and more. Alien to his imagination as it is in conception, it nevertheless fascinates him ever more surely as he grows more familiar with it. The European china of his early collecting days pleases him no longer.

But there will follow a third stage, in which a more catholic taste is developed. The student of the Oriental can understand much in the Western wares that was meaningless so long as he was ignorant of the sources from which they were derived. His appreciation of the high artistic worth of the Chinese is undiminished, but his sympathy is now again awakened by the more humane qualities of the European, appealing as they do to kindred instincts in his own Western nature. He has now reached the point at which he is able to give its true value to all good work, whatever its origin may be. The excellences of the Eastern do not blind him to the merits of the Western; all alike in their several types of beauty are a joy to his soul.

PLATE 9

Vase, Chinese, period of Yung Ch?ng , with "five colour" design of archaistic style. Height, 18 in.

No. 3022-1853. See p. 26.

Unmarked.

CHINESE PORCELAIN

PLATE 5

No. 817-1882. See p. 16.

Unmarked.

The very name by which porcelain is commonly known suggests, to those in whom it arouses an interest beyond the mere aesthetic pleasure to be got from its outward beauty of appearance, that if they would understand it rightly, they must turn their attention first to the land of its origin. To the Chinese the world owes a material as lovely as any ever fashioned by the hand of man, and some account of the growth of this art in Chinese hands is a necessary prelude to any study alike of the Chinese ware itself and of the European imitations of it.

The first beginnings of this wonderful art must be sought in pottery of humble material. The rough but dignified earthenware of the HAN DYNASTY, contemporaneous approximately with the opening of the Christian era, signalises the first appearance in China of pottery of an artistic nature. The green-glazed vessels of this period, imitating the shapes and outward texture of bronze, have become only in recent times familiar objects on the shelves of our museums. From them we can trace the porcelain of later times, by which the Chinese have proved themselves the master-potters of the world, excelling and giving the lead to the ceramists of every other race. Yet it is strange to reflect how late in history their skill has been learned, and to remember that Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and other Western races were masters of the potter's craft many centuries before the Chinese achieved their earliest artistic wares. Coming late into the field, they evolved in a comparatively short span of time a material which placed them ahead of every rival.

The SUNG DYNASTY, which occupied the throne of China for more than three hundred years beginning towards the end of the tenth century, witnessed the first emergence of a true ceramic style. The potters of earlier times had been content to follow the forms set by the bronze-founder, but their successors of the Sung period set forth on purely ceramic lines and arrived at a great variety of wares which are recorded in Chinese literature. To identify these among surviving specimens that may be attributed to this period is a formidable task for the antiquarian. The problem need not be discussed here, as most of these wares cannot be classed as porcelain in the ordinary sense of the word; but it is interesting to note briefly those types which foreshadow the developments of later times.

The discovery during this period of the properties of kaolin and the effort to imitate by artificial means the luminous beauties of jade, pointed the way to the evolution of a white translucent porcelain body. The cream-coloured Ting ware, made at Ting-chou in the province of Chihli, stand, among the relics of these far-off times which have escaped destruction, as the first achievements in this direction. The beauty and dignity of this ware is well exemplified by the two quadrangular vases at South Kensington, formerly in Dr. Bushell's collection. The delicate floral or diaper ornament incised under the soft ivory-toned glaze gives promise of the skilful handiwork of the golden age of the art. One distinctive characteristic of porcelain, the quality of translucency, is still absent in most wares of this order, but pieces of smaller size, such as an exquisitely fashioned little box and cover at Kensington, show a warm glow through their thinner parts when held to the light.

Another class of ware to which reference must here be made is the celebrated celadon ware of Lung-ch'?an, in the province of Chekiang, which was first produced during this dynasty in the effort to imitate green jade. This ware was widely exported over land and sea, and is met with in remote and unexpected corners of the Old World. A well-known specimen of it, Archbishop Warham's cup, preserved at New College, Oxford, is the first piece of Chinese ware recorded to have reached this country. Though it has the nature rather of fine stoneware than of porcelain, it is to be noted as the forerunner of a large class of porcelain of later times.

It was not until the period of the MING DYNASTY that the ware usually associated in Europe with the term "porcelain" first began to be made, that is, a ware with a hard, pure white body, more or less translucent. The beginning of the same period witnessed the emergence to a position of ascendancy of the imperial factory at Ching-t?-ch?n, in the province of Kiangsi. The factory was rebuilt in 1869 by Hung Wu, the first of the Ming emperors, and remained henceforward the chief centre of the porcelain industry in China. The subsequent achievements of Ching-t?-ch?n have never been surpassed in the whole history of ceramic art.

PLATE 8

No. 276-1864. See p. 21.

Unmarked.

A fine example of the more usual method of decoration is the piece reproduced in Plate 2. It is a jar of large dimensions which has reached this country by way of Persia, and has been embellished there with a mounting of brass chased with inscriptions and medallions. The high esteem in which Chinese porcelain has been held for centuries in the Nearer East is evident from the pronounced Chinese influence manifested in Persian and Syrian art from an early period, while during the course of the Ming dynasty the export of porcelain from China to Western Asia grew enormously, and the imitation of Chinese motives became the predominant element of design in the indigenous wares of Persia. That country was the source which supplied a large part of the collection of Ming porcelain now exhibited at South Kensington.

The jar here illustrated is of characteristically solid material, only slightly translucent. Groups of crested wading birds among rocks and bushes of peony in blossom, the flower symbolical of spring in Chinese lore, form the main feature of the decoration. On the shoulder are lobed compartments enclosing the eight Buddhist "Emblems of Happy Augury." Round the lower part are floral designs in shaped panels. The outlines, being slightly raised from the surface of the jar, form barriers by which the coloured glazes were kept from mingling one with another in the kiln. The harmonious hues serve to emphasise the bold and simple forms of the ornament, which seem thoroughly in keeping with the strong curves of the profile of the vase itself.

Other fine examples of this class exhibiting the same technique may be seen at South Kensington. Besides two large jars with processions of mounted soldiers, there are two smaller vases of the elongated pear shape which is also characteristic of this period. One of these, decorated with chrysanthemums and peonies, is remarkable for the full and rich colours of the glazes, while the other is of interest from the quaint figures on it with their primitive garb of sewn leaves. In a pair of square vases, probably early exponents of the style, an effect of solemn beauty has been obtained by the use of white and turquoise only on a manganese ground of dense purple.

PLATE 10

Bottle, "Medici porcelain," made in Florence about 1580, with design of Oriental character in blue, outlined in manganese-purple. Height, 6-7/8 in.

No. 229-1890. See p. 41.

Unmarked.

In the classes of porcelain which have hitherto been dealt with, the decoration has been effected either by cutting into the surface with a pointed instrument or moulding it in relief, or by the addition of colouring materials to the glaze. We must now consider the method most widely prevalent in recent times, namely, that of painting on the surface either before or after glazing. In China this method came into use at a comparatively late period. Elsewhere it had been known for many centuries as a means of ceramic decoration. In Persia, for example, painted designs are met with on the pottery found by French excavators in the lowest stratum on the site of the city of Susa, dating possibly from 5000 years before Christ, while on the semi-porcellanous ware of ancient Egypt painting is of common occurrence. It was widespread as a ceramic process in the Near East and the countries round the Mediterranean long before it was practised by the Chinese. The earliest painted wares of China certainly do not date back before the Sung dynasty, and it is doubtful whether even so great an age as this can be ascribed to them.

There is a class of vases painted in a strong dark brown with roughly-drawn ornament of Buddhistic character, which are probably not more recent than the earliest years of the Ming dynasty, and may date from the latter part of the Sung period. They were made at Tz?-chou, in the province of Honan. Several examples of this kind are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, most of them painted with spirited designs of lotus-flowers and leafy scrollwork, sometimes with birds introduced amongst the foliage. One vase is decorated with four shaped panels, three enclosing lotus-flowers, while in the fourth is a crude figure of a Buddhist monk. These vases are worthy of special attention, as they appear to mark the point at which a step forward was taken of far-reaching significance in its effect on Chinese ceramics. The introduction of the painter's brush among the implements of the Chinese potter led the way to developments which placed him above his fellow-craftsmen in other lands, amongst whom this branch of the art had been familiar in much earlier ages.

Be that as it may, it was not till the time of the Ming emperors that there was any extensive production of painted "blue and white" porcelain. The earliest extant pieces that can be dated with any degree of certainty are ascribable to the reign of the emperor Hs?an T? . There is a small bowl of this period in the Salting Collection. It is remarkable as well for the quality of the glaze, resembling vellum in its texture, as for the soft greyish tones of the cobalt used in the delicate painting of chrysanthemums and other flowering plants.

Another interesting jar, of six-sided form and undoubtedly early in date, has floral ornament executed in dark blue, approaching to black where heavily laid on, which recalls the designs occurring on the hexagonal tiles from the Great Mosque at Damascus. The Persian chased brass rim with which the jar is mounted indicates the channel through which it has come to the West. The Damascus tiles are believed to date from the fifteenth century, and the resemblance between them and the jar in question is so striking as to suggest that they were painted under direct Chinese influence. This view is confirmed by the occurrence among the motives upon them of the Far Eastern chrysanthemum.

Advancing to the sixteenth century and the reigns of Ch?ng T?, Chia Ching, and Wan Li, we find surviving "blue and white" specimens by no means rare. To the first reign are attributed certain objects made for Mohammedan use, as shown by the occurrence upon them of Arabic inscriptions, and some large globular jars with conventional lotus designs under a glaze usually of pronounced bluish tone. The Chia Ching period is characterised particularly by a blue of great intensity, sometimes verging upon violet; it is seen in several large jars at South Kensington in which the strong painting harmonises with the massiveness of the form.

Mention has already been made of the celadon-glazed wares made from the Sung period onwards in imitation of green jade, which are perhaps the most widely distributed of all the wares produced in China for export. To this category belong the great rice-dishes and jars for storing grain, often of extraordinary weight in proportion to their size, frequently met with in India and Persia, and everywhere along the shores and islands of the Indian Ocean. This class of porcelain was known to the Arab traders of the Middle Ages as "Martabani," from the name of the Burmese port which was one of the centres for its distribution. This nomenclature finds its parallel in the name "Gombroon ware," by which it was called in England in the seventeenth century; the establishment of the East India Company's factory at Gombroon on the Straits of Ormuz first opened the way for its importation in any considerable quantity into this country.

PLATE 11

Bowl, Italian, dated 1638, probably made at Pisa, the design on the exterior borrowed from Turkish earthenware. Height, 2 1/2 in. Willett Collection.

No. 341-1905. See p. 42.

The mark and the medallion inside are reproduced below the elevation of the bowl.

PLATE 6

No. 816-1882. See p. 18.

Unmarked.

In addition to applied reliefs the Fuchien potters decorated their porcelain with delicate incised designs, sometimes scarcely perceptible until closely examined, or with ornaments impressed by means of small stamps. An instance of the latter method is seen on the foot of the piece under consideration, which has a repeating border of fret-pattern lightly impressed in the paste.

In the domain of porcelain the outcome of these favourable conditions is seen in an extraordinary advance along technical lines unparalleled in the history of ceramics. A white body of the utmost purity, a glaze fusing so perfectly on to the surface of the paste as to give an appearance of deep luminosity, underglaze colours and overglaze enamels unsurpassed in brilliance and liveliness, brought within the reach of the potter a wonderful variety of effects far beyond anything that had been attained before. Yet the very technical skill which made the triumphs of the K'ang Hsi period possible, opened the way for the artistic decline of the following half century. Virtuosity took the place of aesthetic spontaneity; while there is undeniable beauty in the new achievements, they generally lack the vigour and sincerity of earlier periods when the principles of technique were less well understood.

The characteristic qualities of K'ang Hsi porcelain are well illustrated by the vases chosen for the drawings reproduced in Plates 7 and 8. The first of these is a "blue and white" covered vase, formerly in the collection of Mr. James Orrock, with decoration in shaped panels reserved on a "powdered blue" ground. Of the four large panels, two are filled with sprays of flowers, and a third with a selection from the curious assemblage of objects known as the "Hundred Antiques" , symbolising the elegant arts and accomplishments. In the remaining panel is a mountainous landscape rendered in the conventional manner customary in Chinese paintings; the conventions are not such as we are familiar with in Western art, but once accepted, they will be found to suggest nature and to perform a decorative function no less effectively than those of the European designer.

The cobalt-blue is typical of the finest quality of the period; it has a depth of tone and a limpid brilliancy found only in the reign of K'ang Hsi, compared with which all but the best blue of other periods seems dingy and lustreless. The ground colour is carefully sprayed or splashed on to the vase, and has in consequence on a close inspection a minutely speckled appearance; to this is owing the intense throbbing effect which has often been noticed as the peculiar quality of the blue of this class. This beauty of colour, combined with the faultless spacing of the decoration, compensates for a certain prim formality noticeable when comparison is made with the less orderly designs of the Ming dynasty.

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