CHINA
Chêkiang. It is said to have been originated by two brothers, whose surname was Chang. The elder was called Shêng-i (first born); the younger, Shêng-êrh (second born). Each had his own factory. The ware produced by the elder brother was distinguished as Ko-yao; that produced by the younger as Chang-yao. Originally, the two were included in the term Lung-Chuan-yao, but by connoisseurs in subsequent centuries the expressions Ko-yao (Ko signifies elder brother) and Lung-chuan-yao came to be used distinctively. Both brothers aimed at producing céladons, the chief difference in their methods being that the older employed crackle while the younger avoided it. This difference must not, however, be invariably looked for. Crackle is found is some specimens of Chang-yao—or Lung-chuan-yao as it will henceforth be called—but it is never coloured crackle. Shêng-i's ware (the Ko-yao) resembles the Kuan-yao in having a network of crackle—sometimes fine, sometimes bold-coloured with vermilion, and occasionally with Indian ink, whereas in Shêng-êrh's ware (the Chang-yao or Lung-chuan-yao) when crackle occurs it is simply untinted fissures in the glaze. The Lung-chuan céladon glaze was more distinctly green than the glaze of either the Ju-yao or the Kuan-yao. Specimens of the last two might doubtless be classed with specimens of the first in respect of colour, but as a general rule the tinge of blue so much esteemed by the Chinese connoisseur did not exist in the Lung-chuan-yao. The typical variety of glaze was strong sea-green, often more or less impure in tone. It is singular to observe how M. Julien's persistence induces him to call the Lung-chuan-yao "blue porcelain." M. d'Entrecolles, whose long
42
