Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/334

It was not till the Ming dynasty that the beautiful yellow monochromes so highly prized by all connoisseurs made their appearance; or, to speak more accurately, it was not till then that they elicited the admiration of connoisseurs. As usual it seems that the era with which the first successful manufacture of the ware is associated by the Chinese must in reality be regarded as the time when it reached a very high, if not the highest, stage of development. As to yellow monochromes this time was the Hung-chih era (1488-1505) of the Ming dynasty. H’siang, in his Illustrated Catalogue, shows several specimens of Hung-chih yellow, and appends to his description of one of them the statement that light yellow was the colour most valued in this reign. From his account it appears that the choicest shade was the yellow of a newly husked chestnut, and that bright yellow occupied the second place. As in the case of céladons and white Ting-yao, the shapes and decorative designs of old bronzes were chosen by the potters for choice pieces, the decoration being generally incised in the pâte but sometimes also in bas-relief. The point of note about this ware was that the glaze itself contained the colouring material, which did not consist of a mere layer of enamel as was the case with inferior porcelains of later date. The difference is essential. For whereas the beautiful canary-yellow ware of first quality is thin, almost transparent, of waxy softness and possessing a peculiar shell-like delicacy, the commoner class of yellow porcelain has thick pâte, a comparatively lustreless surface, and an opaque colour. It is with this latter variety that Western collectors are chiefly familiar, the former being not only scarce but also confined to insignificant