CHINA
MONOCHROMATIC WARES ondly, green crague/é, and thirdly, light brown (the
colour known in China as “sesamum-soy,” or CAzA- ma-chiang). Some connoisseurs take these glazes as evidence of grade, asserting that the green is asso- ciated with the best types of Lang-yao, the sesamum- soy with the second quality, and the white with the third. No such distinction really exists. On the contrary, the fourth, or salmon-coloured, variety of Lang-yao, as classed above, constantly has green craquelé glaze on its interior and under surface, while the variety placed first, and unquestionably most esteemed, usually has white or bluff glaze in these places.
True Lang-yao has no marks of factory or period. This does not appear to have been always the case with the C/z-Aung pieces of the Ming dynasty. One of the specimens depicted in H’siang’s Catalogue has the mark of the Hsuan-¢é era engraved in the péte.
Although no record is yet forthcoming as to the time when the Lang potters ceased to work, the in- dications furnished by their ware itself go to show that it was not manufactured after the close of the Kang-hsi, or perhaps of the Yung-ching era (1736). It is not possible, of course, to speak with certainty on this point, but Chinese connoisseurs also indorse the above view.
The Lang-yao is not by any means the only red monochrome that does credit to the potters of the reigning dynasty. It will be seen presently that other and even choicer varieties were produced. Here, however, it is convenient to speak of inferior reds which are constantly mistaken by amateurs for gen- uine Lang-yao. ‘These are the Tsing representatives of the Ming Chi-hung. It has been shown above that
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