And the Jou-yao, second in rank among all porcelains, sometimes mocking the aspect and the sonority of bronze, sometimes blue as summer waters, and deluding the sight with mucid appearance of thickly floating spawn of fish;—­

And the Kouan-yao, which are the Porcelains of Magistrates, and third in rank of merit among all wondrous porcelains, colored with colors of the morning,—­skyey blueness, with the rose of a great dawn blushing and bursting through it, and long-limbed marsh-birds flying against the glow;

Also the Ko-yao,—­fourth in rank among perfect porcelains,—­of fair, faint, changing colors, like the body of a living fish, or made in the likeness of opal substance, milk mixed with fire; the work of Sing-I, elder of the immortal brothers Tchang;

Also the Ting-yao,—­fifth in rank among all perfect porcelains,—­white as the mourning garments of a spouse bereaved, and beautiful with a trickling as of tears,—­the porcelains sung of by the poet Son-tong-po;

Also the porcelains called Pi-se-yao, whose colors are called “hidden,” being alternately invisible and visible, like the tints of ice beneath the sun,—­the porcelains celebrated by the far-famed singer Sin-in;

Also the wondrous Chu-yao,—­the pallid porcelains that utter a mournful cry when smitten,—­the porcelains chanted of by the mighty chanter, Thou-chao-ling;

Also the porcelains called Thsin-yao, white or blue, surface-wrinkled as the face of water by the fluttering of many fins....  And ye can see the fish!

Also the vases called Tsi-hong-khi, red as sunset after a rain; and the T’o-t’ai-khi, fragile as the wings of the silkworm-moth, lighter than the shell of an egg;

Also the Kia-tsing,—­fair cups pearl-white when empty, yet, by some incomprehensible witchcraft of construction, seeming to swarm with purple fish the moment they are filled with water;

Also the porcelains called Yao-pien, whose tints are transmuted by the alchemy of fire; for they enter blood-crimson into the heat, and change there to lizard-green, and at last come forth azure as the cheek of the sky;

Also the Ki-tcheou-yao, which are all violet as a summer’s night; and the Hing-yao that sparkle with the sparklings of mingled silver and snow;

Also the Sieouen-yao,—­some ruddy as iron in the furnace, some diaphanous and ruby-red, some granulated and yellow as the rind of an orange, some softly flushed as the skin of a peach;

Also the Tsoui-khi-yao, crackled and green as ancient ice is; and the Tchou-fou-yao, which are the Porcelains of Emperors, with dragons wriggling and snarling in gold; and those yao that are pink-ribbed and have their angles serrated as the claws of crabs are;

Also the Ou-ni-yao, black as the pupil of the eye, and as lustrous; and the Hou-tien-yao, darkly yellow as the faces of men of India; and the Ou-kong-yao, whose color is the dead-gold of autumn-leaves;