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J. C. Y. WATT
indicates that they are highly localised and probably all come from the kilns of Fu-shan, the area which produce the famous Shih-wan (Shek-wan) wares of a later period. The most common type found in Nim Shu Wan is one that has been attributed to the late T'ang period (Plate 1 and note1). The stoneware and porcelain finds consist almost exclusively of various greenish glazed wares, the detailed description of which is beyond the scope of this paper. However, discussion in very general terms may not be out of place.
The great majority of these greenish wares consist of bowls and dishes of various sizes. The most common shapes and style of potting are similar to the bowls found in Puerto Galero, Mindoro, (see L. & C. Locsin, Plates 118 and 119). These bowls are usually decorated either on the inside or outside, or both, with a comb-like instrument used with great boldness and flourish. (Plate 7). The inside designs are usually some kind of floral pattern and the designs on the outside are either of the type described as "chrysanthemum petals" (closely spaced slanting lines radiating from the base of the bowl), or the type which is generally described as "lotus petals". The chrysanthemum petals as well as the floral designs which are woven into "scrolls” in either a coherent or a "dissolved" manner are very similar to those found at the Hsi-ts'un kilns in Canton2, as well as some Fukien kilns, and show common features with certain designs found on celadon wares of the north, especially the Yao-yao varieties; while the "lotus petals " (Plate 8) seem to have directly descended from a class of decoration commonly found on Han earthenwares of Kwangtung13 and on the early Yueh wares. The Han potter, in his turn, probably derived his design from the decoration found on some Han bronzes. If this is the case, then this kind of "lotus petals" had nothing to do with the lotus plant in its beginnings. However, it is quite conceivable that the Wu and the Yuch people turned this pattern into a variety of the lotus design during the Six Dynasties when the lotus was greatly sung in the Yueh-fu ballads of South China origin because it punned with the word for “love” or “sympathy". Thus this design can claim to be one of the chief characteristics of wares from South China from the Han to at least the Sung period.