Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/258

ably for that reason, as well as on account of the extremely perishable nature of porcelain thus decorated, specimens are exceedingly rare and highly prized. The design is generally of a formal character, as bands of diaper or star pattern; but occasionally dragons or leaves and blossoms are thus treated. In America, porcelain with pierced ornamentation is commonly known as "Grains-of-rice-ware." In Japan it is called "Hotaru-de," or "fire-fly style." The precise date of its origin is uncertain, but there is every reason to conclude that it was not manufactured before the Kang-hsi era (1661–1722). Mr. A. W. Franks says that "in Persia, white bowls of a soft, gritty porcelain were made, which have rude decorations of the same nature, but there is no evidence to show in which country, China or Persia, such a mode of ornamentation originated." Numerous specimens from the workshops of the nineteenth century are to be met with; but if the collector remembers to look always for a pure white, lustrous porcelain and accurately cut designs into which the transparent glaze is run with uniform precision, he is not likely to fall into error. These features are invariably absent in modern pieces, which show unevenness of surface and a distinctly marked tinge of green in the glaze of the pierced portions. In China this ware is called Yen-ching-tou-hwa.

Porcelain ornamented with white slip may be spoken of here as occupying an intermediate place between enamelled wares and monochromatic or polychromatic glazes. Chinese potters do not seem to have practised this method largely. They employed it chiefly in conjunction with the brown or coffee-coloured glaze called Tsu-chin-se, the fond lacque of