Page 291 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

CHAPTER XIII

XTHE YUAN DYNASTY, 1280-13C7 A.D.

THE Ytian dynasty, which lasted from 1280 to 1367, was estab-
Hshed by Kublai Khan, grandson of the great Mongol con-
queror, Genghis Khan. The Mongols completely subjugated
China, and though their rule was comparatively brief, it had a
disastrous effect on the artistic development of the country. The
Mongol governors whose services to the reigning house had been
rewarded by all the lucrative posts, made full use of their oppor-
tunities to enrich themselves by extortion and oppression. Trade
and industry were convenient subjects for their exactions, and
these consequently languished. The ceramic industry was among

the sufferers, and many of the old potteries were closed down in this

troubled period. The potteries at Ching-te Chen, which had grad-
ually risen to a position of great importance in the Sung d3'nasty,
suffered for this eminence by being brought under the immediate
care of a IMongol commissioner, and much of their trade passed into
the hands of manufacturers in Kiangsi and Fukien.^ The earliest
account ^ which we have of the industry in this important centre,

written at the beginning of the fourteenth century, ends with a

bitter cry against the depredations of the governors and the sub-
ordinate officials, Avho were banded together to rob the people,

and against whom no redress could be obtained. Dr. Bushell

published a translation of the chief part of it in Oriental Ceramic
Art,^ and apart from the sorrowful picture which it draws it gives
a good idea of the productions of the district in the Yiian dynasty.

A short notice in the T'ao lu gives a slightly different impression,

and leads us to suppose that the heavy hand of the Mongol officials

1 See p. 164.

2 The Memoirs of Chiang Ch'i, entitled T'ao chi liio, which were incorporated in
the Annals of Fou-liang in 1322, and again in the geographical annals of the province
of Kiangsi (Chiang hsi fung chih, bk. xciii., fol. 5 verso).

3 Op. cit., pp. 178-183.
159