80 Beginnings or Porcelain 



knowledge of ancient pottery, I did not allow myself to be carried away 

 by the usual wave of enthusiasm over a first discovery (since then 

 six years and a half have elapsed), but decided to hold the matter in 

 abeyance till a thorough analysis, to be made at home, would permit 

 us to base an opinion on facts. Meanwhile opportunities were seized 

 at Si-ngan fu to collect as much as possible of this novel pottery. My 

 first concern, naturally, was to secure the large iron stove mentioned 

 in Mr. Yen's missive. A desire thus expressed spreads in that quaint 

 old town like a prairie-fire; and when the sun had risen and set again, 

 I was the lucky owner of that precious relic. Indeed, Yen's descrip- 

 tion was by no means an exaggeration. In type and style, this cast- 

 iron stove (Plate II), partly in decay and the iron core having entirely 

 rotted away, exactly corresponds to the well-known Han burial cooking- 

 stoves, and it is the finest specimen of ancient cast-iron that I was 

 able to find. Being posed on four feet in the form of elephant-heads, 

 it is built in the shape of a horse-shoe, and provided with a chimney 

 at the rounded end, five cooking-holes, and a projecting platform in 

 front of the fire-chamber. On the latter is cast an inscription in six 

 raised characters, which read exactly as indicated by Mr. Yen, — a 

 formula typical of the Han and earlier ages, and encountered on many 

 bronze vessels. The style of these characters is in thorough agreement 

 with that of Han writing. The object was discovered in a grave near 

 the village Ma-kia-chai $* ^ H§, 5 It north of the town Hien-yang, 

 in Shen-si Province. As previously remarked, 1 without laying down 

 any hard and fast rules, there is a great deal of probability in assigning 

 such cast-iron objects to the period of the Later Han (a.d. 25-220), 

 while it is equally justifiable to extend the time of their manufac- 

 ture over the entire third century of our era. The iron stove thus 

 furnishes a clew to the date of the jug which was found in the same 

 grave with it. Needless to say, I left no stone unturned, and kept 

 on inquiring and hunting for this so-called Han ts'e ware in and 

 around Si-ngan. I succeeded in bringing together only eight more 

 pieces (Plates III-X), among these the vessel lei referred to in Yen's 

 memorable epistle, 2 and a number of larger fragments and small 

 shards, which are always precious and encouraging acquisitions to 

 the archaeologist, as they are not under suspicion, and offer welcome 

 study material. 



1 Chinese Clay Figures, p. 216. 



* The pottery vase of this designation is mentioned in the Chou It as holding 

 the sacrificial spirits called ch'ang, which were offered to the deity Earth (Biot, 

 Tcheou-li. Vol. I, p. 468). It is the reproduction in clay of an original bronze- 

 type, frequent among the bronze vessels of the Chou. 



