84 Beginnings of Porcelain 



Several similar pieces have been collected by Mr. Orvar Karlbeck, 

 an official of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway, residing at Chu-chou, 

 Ngan-hui Province. This gentleman, in the course of several years' 

 residence in China, has formed a very interesting collection of ancient 

 pottery, that consists of 144 pieces. I did not have occasion to see 

 it, but, judging from photographs and descriptions which he has been 

 good enough to send me, he seems to own several bits such as are here 

 under consideration. 



Mr. R. L. Hobson, the prominent expert in pottery of the British 

 Museum, while visiting Chicago in January, 1913, and doing me the 

 honor of studying the collections under my care, called my attention 

 to two early jars of similar glazes which were found at Black Rock Hill 

 in Fu-chou, and are now preserved in the British Museum. They 

 are sketched and described by H. F. Holt. 1 They are oval-shaped 

 jars, with short necks and straight rims, a pair of loop handles (in 

 one piece double handles) being stuck on to the shoulders. They are 

 described as being made "of a grayish clay resembling almost stone- 

 ware, over which a coat of greenish -brown glaze has been coarsely laid; 

 a curved line at the bottom sharply defines where the glazing ended." 

 The further remark, however, that the glaze is quite decomposed and 

 can easily be detached, would rather hint at this glaze being of a char- 

 acter different from that on our specimens, which, owing to its chemical 

 composition, is not capable of decomposition. The great antiquity 

 of these two jars is not doubtful: in shape and style they are true 

 descendants of Han pottery. Holt adduces an interesting piece of 

 evidence as to their age, — the fact that the grave in which they were 

 found was situated within the city- walls; and, as no burial within the 

 latter is permitted, they would seem to have been deposited there at a 

 time prior to the erection of the wall. He refers to the "Geography 

 of the Manchu Dynasty" (Ta TsHng i Vung chi) as containing the 

 information that in a.d. 625 Fu-chou was a city of the first class. 



Mr. Hobson was also good enough to read in manuscript Mr. 

 Nichols's report, that follows, and to anticipate some of these results 

 in his admirable work "Chinese Pottery and Porcelain," 2 which denotes 

 decided progress in our knowledge of the entire subject, and is now 

 the best general handbook on porcelain. Referring to Mr. Nichols's 

 analyses of the body and glaze of this pottery, Mr. Hobson states, 

 "The results show that the body is composed of a kaolin-like material 



1 On Chinese Cinerary Urns {Journal British Archaeological Association, 

 Vol. XXVII, 1871, pp. 343-349, Plate XVII). 

 * Vol. I, p. 15 (New York and London, 1915). 



