Page 286 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

be impossible to enumerate all the varieties of decora-
tive device employed in the manufacture of these little

objects. Fifty years ago they acquired historical in-

terest in Europe, for Rosellini, in his " / Monumenti dell'
Egtfto," described one found by him in an Egyptian
tomb, which was supposed to have never been opened

before. On the strength of this evidence, supplemented

by the subsequent discovery of three similar bottles in

Egypt, Sir Francis Davis concluded that the manu-
facture of Chinese porcelain for the bottles were

of true porcelain and undoubtedly Chinese origin
dated as far back as the eighteenth century before
Christ. Such a theory did not long survive. At-

tacked in the first place by M. Stanislas Julien, it was
finally demolished by Mr. Medhurst, who showed

that the inscriptions on the bottles were extracted
from the writings of poets of the eighth century of
our era. Exactly similar bottles were afterwards sent
by Mr. Wells Williams from China, where they could
be purchased in any porcelain store. Their presence
in Egyptian tombs remains unexplained, and has no
more historical significance than the discovery of Chi-
nese ivory-white porcelain seals in an Irish bog.

Though scarcely worthy to be called a special vari-
ety, mention may be made of porcelain in the deco-
ration of which one enamel only, deep emerald green,
was employed. The designs were almost invariably

dragons or phcenixes, supplemented by clouds, waves,
or tongues of flame. Porcelains thus decorated are

usually distinguished by careful technique. They are

at once brilliant and restful. When their manufacture

originated it is not possible to say with certainty, but

it probably dates from the closing reigns of the Ming

dynasty. No specimens older than the latter half

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