Page 50 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

286 MING EGGSHELL.

Ming Eggshell.
There seems no doubt that the Chinese honestly believe
that such as No. 647 were made the
pieces during Yung-lo
period ; and Mr. Burman purchased that charming specimen
in Shanghai, where the native experts all declared it dated
from that reign. Hsiang Tzfi-ching, in his catalogue, mentions
a piece dating from the Yuan dynasty as faintly engraved
with dragons in clouds under the glaze, but this does not
appear to have laid claim to being eggshell. The history of
states that a was first
King-te-chin quasi eggshell produced
during the Yung-lo period, but that the true eggshell was
not made until the reign of Ching-hwa at the Government
and then the and
manufactory, again during Lung-king
Wan-leih
periods. It seems reasonable, all things considered,
to that the specimens given later on under Nos. 646,
suppose
647, are reproductions made at later dates in imitation of what
Chinese writers describe as having been manufactured during
the Ming dynasty. The fineness of the paste, the beauty of
the workmanship, and the general skill displayed in every
detail, make it difficult to believe, when compared with other
that to that There is
Ming productions, they belong dynasty.
a bowl similar to No. 647 in the Salting collection, so readers
will be able to form their own opinion on this point. The
Ming writers certainly speak of their eggshell as being as
thin as a sheet of paper, but some allowance must be made
for the of usual in China, while the use
flowery style writing
of the word "bodiless" as describing that produced during
the Yung-lo period, would seem merely to indicate that it
was made throughout of pure .porcelain, instead of, as in the
case of most of the productions of that period, a combination
of some coarse material coated with porcelain, a custom which
we find was continued at times of
through the various reigns
the next
dynasty.
SYMBOLS ON ROBES OF STATK.
The following, taken from GutzlafTs " Sketch of Chinese
History," vol. i. p. 136, explains the meaning of the twelve
symbols that appear on the robes of state. The Emperor Shun