Page 450 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

i.e. the district comprising the whole north of Africa

to the west of Egypt. All this supports the correct-

ness of M. du Sartel's view with reference to the

time when the term " " to be
porcelain
began applied

to the keramic productions of China, and the time

when the latter began to find its way to the shores

of the Mediterranean. But the story of Ibn Batou-

tah illustrates another interesting point also. It is

quite evident that his description of manufacturing

processes can have reference only to glazing material.

Even on this hypothesis, his account is inaccurate,

though not more so, perhaps, than the account of any

ordinary traveller would be. At all events, what is
known of the methods pursued by Chinese potters

in preparing their choice glazing material, shows

plainly that these methods alone attracted the notice

of the Arabian tourist a fact strongly corroborating
the conclusions arrived at independently in a former

chapter, namely, that during the Sung and Yuan

epochs the preparation of glazes occupied the atten-

tion of the Chinese potter almost exclusively, the

manufacture of a fine, translucid pate not having been

yet included among his tours de forc"e. was to

If Chinese so-called " exported
porcelain

India, the north of Africa, and elsewhere, in 1310, it

seems more than probable that specimens would have

been brought to Europe also by the Venetians, who,

from the close of the thirteenth century, carried on

a brisk commerce with Asia and Africa. M. du Sartel,

wit^i the object of throwing light on this question, has

extracted a great deal of interesting information from

catalogues of ancient collections in Europe. In an in-

ventory of the possessions of Clarisse de Medicis, he

finds it stated that her husband, Lorenzo de Medicis,

368