Page 274 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

146 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

have reached them, and to this we are indebted for the preserva-
tion of many passages from ancient writers which would other-
wise be extremely difficult of access. Thus Hirth found embalmed
in the Sung Pharmacopoeia two early references to the material

Mpai o Q which he shows to be without doubt the kaolinic earth

used in the manufacture of porcelain, and which, like many other

strange materials, entered into Chinese medicinal prescriptions.

The first mention of this substance is taken from the writings of
T'ao Yin-chii, who died in 536 a.d., to the effect that the pai 0,
besides being used in medicines, was employed at that time for
painting pictures ; and Hirth argues that so celebrated a writer
on scientific subjects as T'ao Yin-chii could not have failed to note
it if the pai had been in general use for ceramic purposes as well.
This is followed by a quotation from the T'ang Pharmacopoeia
(compiled about 650 a.d.) : " It {pai 0) is now used for painter's
work, and rarely enters into medicinal prescriptions ; during recent

generations it has been prepared from white ware ^ (te'w)." By

rendering the last sentence " during recent generations it has been

used to make white porcelain," Hirth invested the passage with a
greater interest than it actually possesses. But even when stripped

of this fictitious importance, it constitutes the first literary evidence

we have of the use of kaolin by Chinese potters. This is followed
by another quotation from the T'ang Pharmacopoeia recommending

for medicinal purposes a powder prepared from the white ware of

Ting Chou.2

Whether we are to understand that the Chinese pharmacist
ground up broken pieces of Ting ware or merely made use of the

refined and purified clay obtained at the potteries, matters little.
Neither proceeding would be without parallel in Europe in far
later times than the T'ang period. But the specific reference to
white Ting ware at this early date is most interesting in view of
the fact that Ting Chou was celebrated in the Sung dynasty for
a white ware which is undoubtedly a kind of porcelain.

The presence of a kaolin-like material in a dark-coloured ware,
probably of the third century, which was disclosed by the analysis
made by Mr. Nicholls in Chicago, has already been recorded (p.

15). We have no means of ascertaining what length of time

6^^-i =^ iE'f^ti
Chin lai i pai tz'u wei chih " in recent generations witti white

ware they make it."

KS" :«^!H1 Ting chou pai tz'u. For the Ting Chou ware, see ch. vii.