Page 105 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

THE CELADON

who again have purchased them from the Chinese traders at

Singapore or Macassar.

The Dyak representative of the blue-china school, how-

ever, goes beyond the European devotee in his veneration

of old crockery. Among his greatest treasures are a series

of gudji blanga, a sort of glazed jar imported from China, in

green, blue, or brown, ornamented with figures of lizards

and serpents in relief. These pots are valued at from TOO

florins to as much as 3,000 florins (8/. to 140!.) each, accord-

ing to size, pattern, and above all, old age combined with

good condition. According to the native legend, these pre-

cious vases are made of the remnants of the same clay from
" Mahatara " Almighty) made first the sun, and
which (the

then the moon. Medicinal virtues are attributed to these

urns, and they are regarded as affording complete protection

Afrom evil spirits to the house in which they are stored.

very full account of the various legends connected with these
g"ivEetnhnoingrMarph.isWc.heHB.esTc.hriPjevreilnagerd'esr
gudji blanga is most in-
teresting work, Dajaks,"

pp. 1 1 2-1 20. That author, however, gives them different

names, the nearest of approach to that by which I have

always heard them called being Balanga.

This China craze among the Dyaks has proved, as in

England, an excellent opportunity for the exercise of John
Chinaman's skill ; and very clever imitations of old vases,

with cracks, chips, age-stains, and other indications of an-

tiquity, most exactly reproduced by them, are offered for sale

at Samarinda at five florins each ; but, unlike many London

connoisseurs, your Dyak is never taken in by these spurious

gudji blangas, preferring to give hundreds of guilders for a

real specimen. Each true plastic relative of the sun and

moon has its pedigree, which is passed down from genera-

tion to generation.

Borneo, however, offered but a small market, com-

paratively speaking, for the keramic productions of

the Middle Kingdom. Its interest in this context

centers in the fact that its story supplies a strong con-
firmation of the conclusions recorded in previous