CHINA
MONOCHROMATIC WARES
According to the Yao-/u, as quoted above, the CAr- hung monochromes were the work of specialists only, and it would appear that the revival of their manu- facture at the commencement of the Kang-Asi era was due to a potter called Lang. The ware, at all events, is known in China as Lang-yao, and Chinese virtuosi explain this term as having reference to a family of potters celebrated for their skill in achiev- ing red glazes. All efforts have failed, however, to discover anything about the exact time when the family flourished, or the date when its members ceased to devote themselves to such work. In the catalogue of a collection presented to the British Museum by Mr. A. W. Franks, F.R.S., the follow- ing note is appended to the description of “a bottle covered with a deep but brilliant red glaze: ’? —
This specimen is from Mr. A. B. Mitford’s collection, and is thus described in the catalogue : —“ A bottle: Lang- yao-tsu, porcelain from the Lang furnace. The Lang family were a family of famous potters who possessed the secret of this peculiar glaze and paste. They became extinct about the year 1610; and their pottery is highly esteemed and fetches great prices at Peking. The Chinese have never been able successfully to imitate this ware.”
This statement appears to be based on some confusion between the approximate time when CA/z-hung glazes ceased to be produced by the Ming potters and the epoch when the last members of the Lang family worked. At any rate, whatever may be the true history of the family, it is certain that the fine Lang- yao known to Western collectors dates, almost with- out exception, from the middle of the seventeenth to nearly the middle of the eighteenth century, the great majority of choice specimens being from the
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