Page 24 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

HISTORICAL

Chinese annals of ceramic art as "Thao" or "T'ao" could have been

only a sort of pottery or stoneware solidly glazed over with the enamel

colors.

The word "Tzii," used in ancient documents, came into use during
the Han dynasty (202 B.C. to 220 A.D.), and designates a kind of porce-
lain made from a stone called "Tzii-chi," which was found in the dis-

trict of Tzii-tcheou (d'Entrecolles). This so-called porcelain has a fair
ring, and doubtless is the product referred to in the annals as "Tzii,"
in contradistinction to the pottery "T'ao." In this connection it should
be noted that a vitrified stoneware of a grajnsh color was fnade in China

long before what may be called true porcelain, and has been even repro-
duced in comparatively late periods. The covering of heavy glazing

makes it difficult to distinguish this stoneware from porcelain unless the

difference be noticeable at the foot.

With the product made under the T'angs (A.D. 618-906) the ini-
tiative and somewhat nebulous era in the history of ceramic art was

brought to a close and doubt ceases; for Sinologists, in a consensus of

opinion, are content to accept the literary evidence of this dynasty with

Weregard to the invention of real porcelain. learn that "vases were

made of a white color, solid and thin, of sonorous sound, and of grace-
ful form" ; that this new product was in great vogue and called " Yao,"

to distinguish it from the former product "Thao" (or "T'ao"), the

word "Yao" literally signifying an object baked in a kiln, whether

porcelain or pottery.

Before entering upon this interesting dynasty of the T'angs mention
should be made of the rather short Sui dynasty (A.D. 581-617) just

preceding it, as names of places and potters are disclosed in the contem-
porary annals that should not be omitted in any history, however brief.
In this period the Emperor decreed that the inhabitants of Ching-nan-chen,
afterward called Ching-te-chen (King-te-chen), should make vases as a

tribute for Imperial use.

Chinese authors specify a kind of green glazed ware called "Lou-tzii,"

that was made under Ho Chou, or Ho Kuei-lin, President of the Board