JAPAN
flowers, incised or in relief, resembling the white Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty. But though this statement is beyond question, it contradicts rather than corroborates the Japanese contention. For the Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty was not comparable with the so-called "Korean white." It would be difficult, indeed, to adduce two wares which, while slightly resembling each other in colour, are more essentially different in quality of paste and glaze. The Ting-yao is thin, having soft pâte, a fragile rather than a solid appearance, and a distinct creaminess, or buff-like tinge. The Haku-gōrai (white of Kōrai, i. e. Korea), as the Japanese called the supposed Korean porcelain, has, on the contrary, tolerably thick biscuit, and owes its charm entirely to the peculiarly delicate pinkish or ivory-like tone of its soft, lustrous glaze. There is, in short, no valid reason to doubt that the so-called Haku-gōrai was simply the now well-known "Ivory White" of China—the Ming Chien-yao—which, reaching the Japanese originally viâ Korea, was erroneously attributed by them to that kingdom, just as they credited Cochin China with the manufacture of faience for which it had only served as a place of export. Several specimens of this Haku-gōrai are catalogued by Western amateurs among Korean products, but the belief, though still commonly current in Japan, will not survive the test of investigation. It may be concluded without hesitation that the Haku-gōrai was never made in Korea, and that it belongs absolutely to the Ming Chien-yao, or Ivory White of China. Another ware erroneously ascribed to Korea by Japanese collectors is stone-ware having designs painted in chocolate-brown, or almost black, pigment. It is called E-gōrai (painted ware of Kōrai) in Japan, where considerable quantities of it are preserved among the treasures of the tea-clubs. It has dense, dark pâte, over which is run very thin glaze, generally showing a marked tinge of buff. To the glaze are applied coarsely executed tracings of figures, animals, or elementary floral designs, the colour, muddy chocolate or brownish black, being obtained from the juice of the Diospyros Kaki (Kaki no shibu). The best specimens cannot be called either beautiful or artistic: their homely and unpretentious character alone introduced them
44
