Historical Observations and Conclusions 97 



M. Reinaud, 1 he reports that "there is in China a very fine clay 

 from which are made vases having the transparency of glass bottles; 

 water in these vases is visible through them, and yet they are made 

 of clay." 2 



The presence of china in the India of the seventh century, and the 

 acquaintance of the Arabs with transparent porcelain in the ninth 

 century, based on literary sources, naturally raise the question whether 

 this documentary evidence is corroborated by any archaeological facts. 

 Such have heretofore been lacking; but an important discovery due to 

 the excavations of F. Sarre and E. Herzfeld in the ruins of Samarra, 

 the former residence of the Caliphs, is fortunately apt to settle satis- 

 factorily this much-disputed question. The report of these remarkable 

 finds has recently been published.* According to F. Sarre, who care- 

 fully figures and describes these objects, they belong to a period which 

 is well determined by the years a.d. 838 and 883. The ceramic speci- 

 mens exhumed in Samarra fall into two classes, — those imported from 

 eastern Asia, and those potted locally for home-consumption. Among 

 the former we are confronted with a material which in general must be 

 designated as stoneware, but which, to use the words of Sarre, partially 

 approaches porcelain to such a high degree that it may straightway be 

 styled "porcelain." In the latter case, the body of the vessels cannot 

 be scratched by steel, is almost white, transparent in thin places, the 

 shards being dense, and hard like shell. The smooth and brilliant 

 glaze is evenly applied, and so closely linked with the body that both 

 can but have been fired simultaneously, — characteristic qualities of 

 genuine East-Asiatic porcelain. Besides fragments of more or less 

 coarse and shallow bowls, whose low rim around the bottom is ground 

 off, those of finer ware have also come to light; thus, for instance, a 

 fragmentary oval cup decorated with a fish in relief, surrounded by 

 wave designs and birds on the wing. Judging from the author's 

 description and the very excellent illustrations, there is no room for 



1 Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l'lnde et a la 

 Chine, Vol. I, p. 34. 



1 The report of Soleyman is in full accord with the Chinese notices of T'ang 

 pottery. In the beginning of the T'ang dynasty (618), vases of a white clay, with 

 thin body of white and brilliant color, were made by a potter of the name T'ao, 

 in the village Chung-siu, belonging to King-te-chen; they were styled "imitation 

 jade utensils," and sent as tribute to the Court. Similar vessels were turned out 

 simultaneously by Ho Chung-ch'u from the village Tung-shan (King te chert t'ao 

 lu, Ch. 5, p. 1 b; Julien, Histoire, pp. 81, 82). It is notable that both potters 

 were rural residents, and that their work possessed sufficient quality to earn imperial 

 approbation. 



* F. Sarre, Die Kleinfunde von Samarra und ihre Ergebnisse fur das islamische 

 Kunstgewerbe des 9. Jahrhunderts (Der Islam, Vol. V, 1914, pp. 180-195, 4 plates). 



