CHINA
MONOCHROMATIC WARES
of the subject are, first, that having a portion of the surface red and the remainder white; and second, that having its whole surface red. Examples of both varieties are depicted by H’siang in his Illus- trated Catalogue. Of the first he shows a censer, three inches high and three and a half inches in diameter. The upper part is covered with deep red glaze of “rosy dawn tint,” and the lower with snow- white glaze, the two colours showing a dazzling contrast. The surface is described as having millet- like marks in faint relief. Of the second variety he gives two examples, a wine-pot and a “ palace saucer- shaped dish.”’ The glaze of the former he calls “deep red” and that of the latter “bright red.” In both cases the surface of the specimens is covered with engraved designs, a favourite addition to choice pieces. At the time when H’siang wrote, three hun- dred years ago, this tiny censer was valued at a thou- sand taels, and the owner of the wine-pot had paid some three thousand dollars (gold) for it. It is quite evident, therefore, that the Hswan-¢é experts were veritable masters in the production of red mono- chromes, and it is almost equally evident that speci- mens of their best work need not be looked for by foreign collectors of the present time. How then was this wonderful red obtained? The Tao-/u, re- ferring to the C/z-hung porcelains of the Hsuan-té era, says that there were two kinds, “bright red” (Hszten-hung), and “precious stone red” (Pao-shi- hung), but this distinction was not radical: it re- ferred only to a difference of tone, the ‘“ precious stone red’”’ being fuller and deeper than the “ bright red.” Both were obtained from silicate of copper, but the manufacturing processes remain to this day
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