Page 31 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

HISTORICAL

for the palace. The fact is, that while nearly all details on porcelain

given by native authors are more or less faulty in description, or scanty in
the extreme, it is especially so with the products made outside of Impe-
rial factories ; they are particularly wrapped in mystery, and will doubt-

less remain so.

The foregoing outlines concerning the early history of ceramics are de-
rived from trustworthy translations of Chinese literature, and may be suf-

ficient here to follow the progress of this art from the remote periods of

which we have native testimony to this, the present dynasty. The Chinese

are conceded to have been the first to make porcelain, but their claims to
its greater antiquity have been refuted by Western Sinologues. The real

advent of porcelain, according to the views of these authorities, dates from

between the seventh and ninth centuries, the exact period, as it may ap-

pear, being in dispute.

The descriptions of the varieties of porcelain hitherto enumerated pos-
sess, besides their historical interest, some value in that we may trace back

certain well-defined types and colors.
Very few specimens manufactured prior to the advent of the Sung dy-

nasty have survived to the present day ; and even of the Sung and Yiian
productions the originals and finer kinds have almost entirely disappeared.
Such specimens as have withstood the many dangers of the subsequent
eight centuries are chiefly celadons of considerable solidity (Lung-ch'uan or
Chiin-chou porcelain), small pieces of crackle ware, and probably a few

porcelains of Ting or Ting-chou. As far back as three centuries, even

the best varieties of older products were already scarce, and this is made
evident from the literature of that period, notably from the catalogue and
descriptions preserved by Hsiang Tsu-ching, who then stated that certain
examples seen by him were almost unique. Therefore it is assumed that
many pieces, presumably early Sung, Tang, or Sui, Chin, Wei, and Han,
are only reproductions made by clever copyists of the later Sungs, or under
the Yiian and Ming dynasties, if not of even later periods.

Under the Ming dynasty (1368-1643), owing to its length and the

peaceful conditions of the country, the manufacture of porcelain received