CHINESE CERAMICS. Until a little over a generation ago the foreigner in China found it both difficult and dangerous to person ally investigate the inside conditions pre vailing in that country's ceramic industry. The technique and history of China's wares, there fore,' remained a mystery to Westerners, and written evidence was largely erroneous if not supposititious. The pottery and porcelain pieces themselves, in museums and private collections of Europe and America, were the main source from which to gather information. Pere d'En trecolles (a Jesuit priest) sent some letters home (1712-22) containing remarks concerning some technical processes used inpreparing the different clays, glazes and colors. Julien's trans lation (published 1856) of the Chinese work en titled Thing-te Chen t'ao lu> was scholarly, but, failing to have expert knowledge of the technique of ceramics, he misinterpreted terms and led future writers astray. Franks (1876) aided much with his classification and intelli gent system; Dr. S. W. Bushell's 'Oriental Ceramic Arty (1899) revolutionized the field of knowledge on the subject. Cosmo Monk house's 'History and Description of Chinese Porcelain' (1901) assisted the work. Then came a translation of the loth century 'Album of Hsiang The result of the life residence of Captain Brinkley contained in his voluminous work 'China> (1906) afforded further insight into the facts. But, greatest factor of all in deciphering the mysteries of Chinese ceramics was the founding of the Chinese republic. Access to the many sources of reliable information have lately become com paratively easy; internecine warfare induced many wealthy natives to part with treas ures which in times of peace none could purchase. The opening up of railroads has laid bare large numbers of buried pieces of fictile art through excavation of graves cen turies old. With our present knowledge we can not only decipher the characteristics and his tory of wares back to the Sung Dynasty (960 1280), so long hoped for but we have an in sight and productions of the T'ang Dynasty (618-906) wares in undreamed of splendor.
The following meanings of several Chinese terms used in ceramic lore will aid to a better understanding of the subject : The body or paste of Chinese porcelain (hard paste), termed tdu, is composed of kaolin, a native weathered pegmatite (silicate of alumina), which is very refractory, and petuntse (or pe-tun Wu), a fusible, finely comminuted clay, derived from the same felspathic rock as the kaolin. Both
are products of decomposed granite. The glaze (termed yu) which covers the porcelain body is also composed of petuntse, but all Chinese glazes contain some proportion of lime to in crease the fusibility of the petuntse; it is the lime which gives the tinge of green or blue characteristic of Chinese porcelain, besides con ducing to the brilliancy of the glaze. The Chinese term for earthenware, as differentiated from the fused porcelain and stoneware body, is wa. The finished product of the kiln is known as yao (similar to our term ware). Thus Kuan yao is •Imperial ware' (Kuan meaning Imperial), and Sung Kuan yao is the Imperial ware of the Sung Dynasty. Ting yao is the ware produced by the kilns at Ting-chou, or wares of the Ting type.
Early Chinese Pottery.— The earliest pieces of Chinese fictile ware come to our knowl edge are an imperfectly baked earthenware with a green or thin yellow glaze (sometimes un glazed). They belong to the Han Dynasty (206 a.c.-220 A.D.). By the time of the T'ang (618 906 A.D.) the potter's and all other arts were flourishing, and most beautiful forms had come into being. In Shosoin, the noted storehouse at Nara (Japan), are hard pottery vessels with beautiful blue, yellow and green glazed orna ment on a bare body, others have green and orange glaze. They belonged to the Japanese Emperor Shomu, whose belongings were stored there on his death (749 A.D.). These pieces have enabled connoisseurs to identify confidently such pieces in their possession as examples of the T'ang Dynasty and, therefore, made before the middle of the 9th century A.D., yet perfect as to form, potting and glaze. Life-size figures and statuettes. in this early pottery also are ex tant, beautifully sculptured. Berthold Laufer's researches into examples taken from tombs of the Han period (206 a.c.-220 in this century show an earthenware usually having green glaze. Recent excavations on the Pien-Loh Railway have, practically, crowded the Peking market with pieces, probably dating back as far as the Han period—Han wa. Altogether we are now fairly assured of the following facts.