Page 375 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

;

Marks on Chinese Pottery and Porcelain 217

Ch'ing Dynasty Ch'ing Dynasty

T'uNG Chih, KUANG Hsu,
1862—1874.
1875—1909.

Same in seal Same in seal

characters. \h characters.

(2) Hall marks.

The " hall mark," which is of frequent occurrence on both

porcelain and pottery, is so called because it includes the word

^ ^ ^Vang (hall) or some equivalent such as chai (a study), t'ing

(a pavilion), hsien or hsiian t^ (a porch, balcony or pavilion), kuan

^ H M(a residence or hostelry), fang
(a room or house), chil (a

dwelling). The word fang as explained in Giles's Dictionary is

a*' hall : especially a hall of justice or court ; the ancestral hall

—an official title." T'.ang ming is " the family hall name a fancy

name usually consisting of two characters followed by t'ang (e.g.

=wu ie t'ang chin Chin of the military valour hall), and referring

to some event in family history. It is generally inscribed in one of

the principal rooms of the house, and is used in deeds, on graves,

boundary stones, etc."

The hall mark, then, may contain the studio name of the maker

or of. the recipient of the ware, or it may have reference literally to

the building for which the ware was intended. The last interpretation

can be generally applied to the marks referring to halls or pavilions

in the precincts of the Imperial palace. Again, the hall may be the

shop of a dealer who ordered the goods. But in the absence of pre-

— —positions, it is not always not often, I should perhaps say possible

to determine which of these alternatives is implied in any particular

^ ^hall mark ; e.g. Lin yil fang chih may mean " made in the

Abundant- Jade Hall," or " for " the same, or by a man whose

studio name was Lin-yii fang.

—I 2 c