Page 59 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

POTTERY. 9

It is a genuine relic of early art striving to outline its conception
of the eternal cosmic conflict of heaven and earth. The dragon,
as prince of the powers of the air, bestrides the frieze with gaping
jaws and voice of thunder, while the tiger, the king of land animals,
roars defiance, standing erect in the background. Two other
specimens from the same Chinese collection are now in my pos-
session : a tripod sacrificial vessel {ting) with upright loop handles
and a cover surmounted by a ram's head ; and a pail of bamboo,
as it were, bound round with cords, with inverted strap handles
springing upwards from monsters' heads, worked with a band of
astrological design in relief, and invested, inside and out, with
a crackled green glaze of the tones described above. The tigers'
heads supporting the handles in these early pieces are usually
emblazoned on the forehead with the character ivang " king " as
a symbolic sign. The lion, not being a native of China, does not
occur in its primitive art, although it was introduced later In con-
nection with Buddhism, figuring as the defender of the law and
protector of sacred buildings.
The green enamelled ware of the Han dynasty just referred to
is not porcelain, as the body lacks the two essential qualities of
whiteness and translucency, although in select pieces the paste
is compact and partially vitrified, so as to give out a resonant
note when tested with the finger nail in Chinese fashion. It is
interesting as giving a fixed point for the study of the subsequent
development of the ceramic art in China. On the one hand, a
gradual progress in the selection of materials and in the perfection
of methods of manufacture, in the districts where kaolin was
available, culminated in the production of porcelain. On tiie
other hand, where coloured clays only were mined, evolution
was restricted to refinement of the paste, improvement of technique,
the introduction of new methods of decoration, such as coloured
enamels of other tints, and the like. One is apt to neglect the
fact that while porcelain was being turned out in ever-increasing