Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/310

clouds, with the beautiful clair-de-lune glaze for which the epoch was famous.

Not until the Ming dynasty is the student unquestionably confronted with the grand, dazzling reds that subsequently became so priceless in the eyes of Chinese virtuosi. Among the porcelains of the Hsuan-tê era (1426–1435) the Tao-lu says that vases of rouge vif were classed as "precious," and that they were glossy, solid, and durable. The same book quotes this passage from another work: "In the Hsuan-tê period there were manufactured at the Imperial workshop cups of the red called Chi-hung, having handles shaped like fishes. To produce this red the potters mixed with the glaze the powder of a precious red stone which came from the Occident. On emerging from the kiln the fish blazed out from the body. The glaze was lustrous and thick." The expression Chi-hung signifies the clear red of the sky after rain. Such poetic epithets were not unnaturally employed by the Chinese, for the reds of their fine porcelains were in truth a poem. H'siang, in his Illustrated Catalogue, speaks of the same red as "the colour of liquid dawn" (Liu-h'ia-hung), a term finely descriptive of its clear, pure brilliancy. It will be observed that the description quoted by the Tao-lu is somewhat confusing, being applicable equally to white porcelain decorated with red fishes, or to red porcelain having fish-shaped handles. In point of fact, both kinds were manufactured with marked success by the Hsuan-tê experts, but as the former has already been included in the section of "porcelain having decoration under the glaze," further reference need not be made to it here. The two varieties of Hsuan-tê ware that belong to the present part