CHINESE POTTERY
shaping his vessels, not caring for mathematical regularity. His skill in compounding various clays, his wonderfully ingenious shapes, and the hardness of his ware, resembling stone or metal, made him famous from the first. People christened him Chan To-shu of Yi-hsing. He died early.
All the above flourished during the latter years of the Ming dynasty; that is to say, from the Wan-li era (1573—1620) down to 1644. Other celebrities of the same age were Shao-kai, Chen Heu-chi, Shao Erh-sun, and Chan Tsün-hiang, the last a pupil of Shi Ta-pin.
During the two last periods of the Ming dynasty, i.e., the Tien-chi era (1624—1627) and the Ch'ung-chang era (1628—1644), the following potters attained celebrity, viz.:—Chen Li-shan, Chan Hö-chi, Chan Tiang-shang, Chang Yun-tsung, and Chan Chiün-shang.
Some of the potters of Yi-hsing owed their reputation chiefly to their skill in carving inscriptions. Such a man was Chan-chen, whose style of writing has been much imitated by modern artists. Another was Ta-sin, who was employed by Shi Ta-pin to write inscriptions, and who was such a master of penmanship that his inscriptions have been carefully transcribed, and are used by connoisseurs as a standard of excellence. Li Chung-fang, who has been mentioned above as a renowned pupil of Shi Ta-pin, was not far inferior to this Ta-sin in caligraphic ability.
Hiang Pu-sun, another potter of about the same period, was a poet as well as a keramist. He was so proud of his talents that people called him insane, but he scarcely deserved such an epithet. He was incarcerated and died in prison.
During the Ch'ung-chang era (1628—1644), a potter called Ch'an Tsz-ch'o flourished. He was a man of great skill both as a modeller and as a caligraphist. In fact he deserves to be classed among the celebrities of the Ming dynasty.
A still more renowned potter of this dynasty was Ch'an Ming-yuen, surnamed Hao-fang, and called also Hü-yin. He flourished during the Wan-li era (1573—1620), and enjoyed a reputation of the highest character. A well-known writer says that his fame as a potter was widespread, and that wherever he went, nobles and literati invited him to their houses.
361
