Page 25 - Japanese marks and seals on pottery, paper and other objects.

PREFACE.

T he marks and seals in this Vohmie have been
gatheredfrom many sources, amongst which may

be named the collection of wares made by myself
during the past fifteen years, for the purpose of

forming the classification of pottery as set forth in
Keramic Art of fapand I have also availed myself

of the collection of Old Japan porcelain preserved
at Dresden, the interesting and valuable series of

examples of the same ware presented to the British
M^lseum by Mr. Aug. IV. Franks, and the specimens

sent by the Japanese Government to the South Ken-
sington Museum, as well as numerous other collections.
The great variety of the characters, the several

styles in which they are written, and the differences
necessarily incidental to the rendering of them by the

workmen upon productions executed during a period
extending over more than three centuries, have made

the translatiopi of the inscriptions a work of extreme