Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/387

these pots was used, the more attractive did its lustre become, and the more easily was its excellence recognised. Even as an ornament it possessed most pleasing properties. Sometimes the lustre of a pot is due to greasy particles which shine with increased plainness in the sunlight. Vulgar people preserve this unctuous brightness and rub the pot with their sleeves to intensify the effect. They forget that even the celebrated beauty Si-tsu would lose her charms were she covered with dirt. To put tea into such a vessel is like enshrining a god in a mud-heap.

A priest of the Chin-sha temple, who lived during the Ming dynasty, is said to have been the first to manufacture choice utensils of pottery for tea-drinking purposes, but his name has not been preserved. The temple of Chin-sha is situated about thirteen miles (English) to the south east of Yi-hsing. Kung-chun, however, who flourished in the Chêng-tê era (1506-1521) of the Ming dynasty, was the first really great expert. Servant to one Wu I-shan, an officer of educational affairs, he attended his master when the latter was receiving a course of instruction at the Chin-sha temple, and there succeeded in secretly learning the art of the old priest. His pots were hand-made, and in most of them thumb-marks are faintly visible. Generally their colour is that of a chestnut, and they have a subdued lustre like oxidised gold. Their simplicity and accuracy of shape are inimitable; worthy to be ascribed to divine revelations. The great artist being of the Kung family, many people employ that ideograph in writing his name, but the celebrated potter Shi Ta-pin, whose authority is indisputable, used other ideographs. From the time of Kung-chun downwards we have a series of renowned potters. Their names and specialties are as follow : —

Tung-Han, surnamed Heu-chi. He flourished during the Wan-li era (1573-1629), and is celebrated for his skill in modelling. A characteristic decoration on his pieces was the flower of the water caltrops. He appears to have been the first potter who ornamented the surface of the Yi-hsing ware with elaborate designs in relief.

Chao, whose artist name was Liang. He also flourished

during the Wan-li era (1573-1620). His favourite style of