CHINESE PORGCEDMAIN IN WEST
craquelé ware is turned out in quite considerable quan tities. Here, too, the amateur ought to find suffi cient guidance in the comparatively coarse, though carefully ground and polished, pàte of the modern porcelain, in the weak tone of the colour, and above all in the absence of the “‘ mossy” edge peculiar to the crackle of the genuine ware. Corresponding attempts to simulate are seen in the so-called “black hawthorns” of the time. The fine close-grained pate of the old kilns is not producible, and the black glaze forming the ground colour is so vitreous and garish that it has to be subjected to an all-over pro cess of grinding, the marks of which can be detected without much trouble. “Mustard crackle” offers another favourite field for imitation, but here the amateur should never fall a victim if he remembers, first, that the slightest muddiness of colour is fatal, and secondly, that a fine velvety lustre invariably appears on the glaze of Chien-lung and earlier speci mens. As to the fine reds, sang-de-beuf, “peach blow,” “bean-blossom” &c. their reproduction is still more difficult, though it must be confessed that some recently manufactured specimens of Lang-yao are declared deceptive by Chinese connoisseurs them selves. Further, it must be observed that Japan also is in the field as an imitator, and that specimens of ambitious “ liquid-drawn” glazes by Makuzu, and of céladons, “famille verte” and other varieties by Seifu have been acquired by Chinese dealers and are con- fidently offered for sale as Chinese porcelains. The Japanese potters are not necessarily parties to this fraud, nor does it follow that the Chinese themselves attempt any witting deception, for in shops in Shang
hai and even Tien-tsin specimens frankly stamped with
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