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.

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