Chinese Porcelain, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Chinese Porcelain, Vol. 2

The Ming pieces we shall find poor in quality, shape, and colouring, as compared with the Tsing, and beyond a few alien-haw we have little to guide us in marking out the porcelain of one Ming reign from that of another. The Jesuit fathers do not help with regard to Ming wares. Chinese writers seem to give fairly detailed accounts of the production of the various Ming periods, according to some much greater praise than to others; but Ming pieces are now comparatively few in number, and it is difficult to carry out any general classification or to verify the statements of these native writers. The specimens we have here in England may not do full justice to the Ming period, but even compared with inferior wares of the Tsing, they show a crudeness that must have run through the whole series; and no doubt the best Tsing pieces are as far ahead of the best Ming as the inferior of the former are superior to the same quality of the latter.

In the sixteenth century porcelain was so highly esteemed in Europe that many pieces were mounted in silver, and it is reasonable to suppose that the best specimens were selected for this honour. N ow, except, perhaps, where historical value attaches, as in the case of the Trenchard and Warham bowls, the mountings, as samples of early silver work, are of more value than the china they were originally designed to protect and ornament. The reason for this being that much finer porcelain has since come to hand; while to give value, artistic merit is necessary, as well as mere antiquity; and in the former qualification the Ming productions have been greatly distanced by the Tsing.

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