Ge ware

[4] It is clear that their distinguishing feature is deliberate crackle, or a network of cracks in the glaze; but this is not restricted to them, and in particular the related Guan ware uses very similar effects.

[5] A three-day conference at the Shanghai Museum in 1992 attempted to reach a clear definition of Ge ware, but could not reconcile all views.

There is a record of an incense-burner described as new being bought in 1355, close to the end of the Yuan, which compares it favourably to the "old" Guan ware.

[10] The term may have become used very loosely by the Ming period, for all southern celadons with a pronounced crackle, and such usage continued in the West, though in recent decades it is discouraged.

[14] A vase in the Percival David Foundation, now on loan to the British Museum, had a poem written on it by the Qianlong Emperor in 1785; in two senses, as he had the poem inscribed inside the neck of the vase:[15] Despite the pattern of hundreds of intermingling crackle lines, its texture is fine and smooth to the touch.

This form of double crackle is called "gold thread and iron wire" (金丝铁线; 金絲鐵線; jīnsī-tiěxiàn) in Chinese tradition, describing the small and larger networks respectively.

[21] A range of fanciful names were devised by connoisseurs for different types of crackle: small "fish-egg pattern" (鱼子纹; 魚子紋; yúzǐwén, and "ox-hair" (牛毛纹; 牛毛紋; niúmáowén), willow-leaf (柳叶纹; 柳葉紋; liǔyèwén), and large "crab-claw" (蟹爪纹; 蟹爪紋; xièzhǎowén).