98 Beginnings of Porcelain 



doubt that the piece in question is of real, white porcelain, and that it 

 affords an example of the hitherto lost porcelain of the T'ang period. 

 T'ang porcelain is thus raised into the rank of plain fact. Soleyman's 

 testimony proves true. 



The date of this specimen is indubitable, and meets a welcome 

 confirmation from two green and white glazed dishes of pottery 1 secured 

 in the same locality. Without having any clew to their provenience, 

 the writer, who through his researches in China is somewhat familiar 

 with this and similar ware, would not hesitate for a moment to diagnose 

 them as Chinese productions of the epoch of the T'ang. Mr. Sarre is 

 perfectly correct in calling attention to the fact that pieces of identical 

 technique are preserved in the Imperial Treasury of Nara in Japan, 

 and that T'ang clay statuettes are formed of the same material. An- 

 other discovery of no less importance, for which we are indebted to 

 Mr. Sarre's energy, is a group of celadon-like stoneware, one of which, 

 bearing the design of a fish scratched in under the glaze, is reproduced 

 in his report. The facts brought out by Mr. Sarre's researches are of 

 such far-reaching consequence, that he is entitled to a just claim to our 

 lasting gratitude. Above all, he has succeeded in safely establishing 

 the fundamental fact that porcelain was made in China under the 

 T'ang; and that Chinese porcelain, as well as non-porcelanous pottery, 

 was exported in the ninth century into the Empire of the Caliphs. 

 These conclusions embolden us and justify us in regarding the word 

 ts'e, whenever it appears in T'ang documents, as conveying the notion 

 of true porcelain, and in giving full credence to the account of I-tsing, 

 that India possessed Chinese porcelain during the seventh century. 2 

 Consequently it is at some earlier date that the beginnings of porce- 

 lain — those initiatory and preparatory steps finally leading up to the 

 perfection of the ware — must be sought for. Porcelain has been 

 discovered in Turkistan by Sir Aurel Stein. 3 



Our previous knowledge of references to T'ang porcelain was chiefly 

 based on the two modern works, the King te chen Vao lu (first edition, 

 1815) and the T'ao shuo (1774). It remains to be ascertained, however, 

 from the contemporaneous records of the T'ang, whether these extracts 



1 On Plate II in the article referred to. 



1 As shown by I-tsing, a clear distinction between common pottery and porce- 

 lain is made in T'ang literature. This is further evidenced by the frequent occur- 

 rence of the compound ts'e wa J^^L ("porcelain and stoneware"), for instance, in 

 the Yu yang tsa tsu (Ch. 11, p. 7 b; ed. of Pai hat) and in the Ta T'ang sin yii ~fc%§ 

 $ffn (Ch. 13, p. 9; ed. of T'ang Sung ts'ung shu). 



3 Ancient Khotan, Vol. I, pp. 461, 464 (see also Hobson, Chinese Pottery and 

 Porcelain, Vol. I, p. 149). It would be desirable that analyses be made and pub- 

 lished of Sarre's and Stein's porcelains. 



