Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/336

(1662) down to the closing years of the eighteenth century this delicate glaze was manufactured successfully and in larger quantities. There were various tones, from pale lemon to deep straw-colour, though only two were specially distinguished, light yellow (Hiao-hwang) and golden yellow (Chin-hwang). Small pieces, as bowls, cups, censers, miniature vases, and so forth, were chiefly produced. Occasionally crackle was added, but in the great majority of cases the potter confined his decoration to incised designs of a comparatively simple character, the perpetual dragon figuring prominently. It is unfortunate that this beautiful glaze was not employed in the manufacture of more important pieces, for its delicacy and softness can scarcely be over-estimated. The experts of the Tsing dynasty, however, preferred to produce the thicker variety, in which the colour, applied to the surface of the biscuit after stoving, presents an opaque, dull appearance. Not a few fine specimens of this class survive. They are usually modelled after the fashion of bronzes, having fluted or diapered surfaces and handles shaped into grotesque monsters. Yellow is the sovereign colour of the Tsing dynasty, and it may be for that reason that yellow monochromes are comparatively uncommon. Porcelains having designs in green in a yellow field of the opaque type are more numerous. Western connoisseurs often distinguish them by the title of "Imperial Ware," though they have no special claim to be thus honoured.

The yellow craquelé mentioned above must be distinguished from the so-called "mustard yellow" of Occidental collectors. The latter is of the inferior type; its colour being an opaque enamel applied to