Page 328 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day
P. 328
CHAPTER XVI
MISCELLANEOUS POTTERIES
IN addition to the factories v»'hicli have received individual
notice, there are numerous others which are only names to
us ; and, on the other hand, there is a host of nameless wares
which have reached Europe at various times and through divers
channels, and are now awaiting classification with very little chance
Aof being definitely located. consideration, however, suggested by
the Chinese Commercial Guide'^ may help towards the grouping of
Wethese miscellaneous wares. are told that the charges for
freight forbid the wares to be carried far in the ordinary way of
internal trade, and that manufactures of pottery are numerous,
supplying the local needs. Now the number of ports open to
foreign trade in China is limited, and in the past the sea trade
was of far smaller volume, and was concentrated in a few of the
southern coast towns. Consequently, in dealing with pottery which
we may assume to have been brought by the export trade to
Europe, it will be necessary for general purposes to take account
only of the factories in the neighbourhood of the seaports in ques-
tion. These will be found to be almost entirely in the southern
half of China.
Thus, starting from the south and following the coast line, we
come first to the potteries which supplied Pakhoi and Canton,
and we may assume that Hongkong and Kowloon would be supplied
from the neighbourhood of Canton. These have already been dis-
cussed, and we can pass on to Swatow, which would draw supplies
from the Ch'ao-chou Fu potteries. This neighbourhood furnished
an exhibit to the Paris Exhibition of 1878, consisting of " tea jars,
tobacco jars, braziers and pots, lamps, tiles, flower pots, fruit jars,
spoons, vases of various sorts, figures, dishes, cups and saucers,
and spittoons."
At the same exhibition, Amoy, to which we come next, was
1 S. Wells Williams, Chinese Commercial Guide, 1863, p. 132.
184