CHINA
POLYCHROMBATIC GLAZES
best periods of the present dynasty has been lavished upon them, they deservedly rank among choice pro- ductions of Ching-té-chén. Many fine specimens of polychromes in which red predominates have pare which is rather stone-ware than porcelain, and in some the biscuit, where exposed to the fire, shows a reddish brown colour. In fact high quality of pére is not an essential criterion of excellence in such ware.
In another variety of this same genus the coloured glazes are run so regularly as to present a tesselated appearance. In such polychromes there is usually an addition of a third colour, a rich brown, which is often so skilfully managed that it seems to form a border of varying tone to the fields of red and c/air- de-lune. The processes of these remarkable fours de force are still matter of conjecture. There was, in truth, scarcely any limit to the ability developed by the Chinese potter in manipulating his glazing mate- rial. A favourite device of his in the manufacture of red and white polychromes was to contrive that the flow of the red glaze should suffer the underlying white to crop out in more or less regular patterns, as for example a lotus blossom or a bunch of leaves. This particular class of conceit seems to have be- longed to a comparatively late period, as it appears chiefly in wares dating from the closing years of the Chien-lung and to the Chza-tsing and Taou-Kwang eras. For the rest, the Yumg-ching era (1723-1736) appears to have been the most successful time for polychromes of the red genus and indeed for all polychromatic glazes. Many grand specimens bear the year-mark of that era, impressed in seal character.
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