Page 21 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

CHINESE PORCELAIN.

INTRODUCTION.

IN this, as in the first volume, no attempt will be made to
into the the Content-
penetrate past beyond Ming period.
ing ourselves with the Chinese porcelain to be found here in
England, the commencement, to be sure of the date and so
start on firm ground, must of necessity be With the historic
Trenchard and Warham bowls that is, 1506 (see p. xix.) ; but
even thus restricting ourselves, there is a long road of some
four hundred years to travel down to the present time. Fol-
the Chinese method, we find this divided between
lowing period
two dynasties (roughly speaking, one hundred and forty years
belonging to the Ming and two hundred and sixty to the
which are subdivided into some
Tsing), again reigns long
and some short; but these we must as the measure
adopt
the nien-hao, when existent and
of our whereabouts, taking
seemingly reliable, as a guide in the chronological arrange-
ment of our china. Beyond these date-marks we are very
much at the mercy of the somewhat hazy records of Chinese
historians and the information collected the Jesuit
by worthy
fathers, which, notwithstanding all their care, does not seem
to have been correct so that of
always exactly ; necessity,
when not we must trust in
helped by family history, great
measure to our for in
eyesight, seeking guidance any change
we may find in the quality of the porcelain or glaze, in the
shapes of the various vessels, in the style of decoration, or
colour of the with other such aid we
pigments employed, any
can avail ourselves of.
Genuine date-marks are few and far between,
comparatively
therefore we will find it to allot to a
impossible every piece
VOL. II. B