CHINA
POLYCHROMATIC GLAZES
Chapter XI
POLYCHROMATIC GLAZES
TRANSMUTATION OR FLAMBE GLAZES
HERE are many varieties of Chinese porce-
lain and stone-ware the glaze of which shows more than one colour. Indeed,
some of the porcelains included above in
the monochromatic family would, if more strictly classified, find a place in the present chapter — as, for example, Lang-yao with bright flashes or dark spots in the red field; king-fisher blue and peacock green with metallic dappling; Chdng-yao with red haw- thorn and c/air-de-lune glazes; metallic black with green and blue iridescence; mirror black with gold dusting ; olive green with yellow spots; the red Pzn- kwo-ts'ing glaze with plum-green clouding, and so forth. It has not been deemed advisable, however, to enter these in the polychromatic category, inas- much as the marked predominance of their principal colour has always led collectors to regard them as monochromes. For this section, therefore, are re- served only those glazes in which two or more colours are distinctly visible. Of these the most remarkable, and perhaps the most beautiful, is the Yao-pzen, or ware “transmuted in the furnace,” called by French connoisseurs ‘‘ Flambé.’ M. d’Entrecolles refers to
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