106 Beginnings of Porcelain 



but a higher grade of pottery which shared characteristic features with 

 true porcelain. , 



Another problem is whether the kind of porcelain manufactured at 

 Ts'e-chou bore any relation to the mineral ts'e. The term ts'e 5$, 

 as is well known, is the designation of the magnet or loadstone; but, as 

 admitted by the Chinese, it denotes also another mineral which is suit- 

 able for the making of pottery. This fact is brought out by several 

 ancient stone sculptures in the Museum's collection, in the votive 

 inscriptions of which it is stated that the material of the sculpture is 

 ts'e shi $& Ti ("ts'e stone"), which, however, as shown by a very super- 

 ficial examination, is not loadstone. The "Records of the Potteries 

 of King-te-chen" * inform us that "the ts'e stone JS^ is made into a 

 paste serviceable for pottery vessels, but that this stone is not identical 

 with the magnet attracting iron and used for magnetic needles; further, 

 it is a peculiar and distinct kind of stone of white color and of bright 

 and smooth appearance; the vessels made from it are beautiful, but not 

 delicate, and differ from porcelain earth; aside from Ts'e-chou, they 

 are made in Hu-chou fr" 'Hi in Ho-nan Province. It is accordingly not 

 magnetic ore which entered into the manufacture of Ts'e porcelain, but 

 a mineral of a different nature, as yet undetermined, apparently not 

 discovered prior to the age of the Sung, and likewise styled ts'e. 2 This 

 point is especially mentioned in this connection, because a supposition 

 that magnetic ore might have been mixed with porcelain glaze would 

 not be entirely without foundation. 3 



In fact, however, we have no account of loadstone ever having been 

 used by the Chinese in the making of pottery; and it is therefore 

 impossible to assume any connection between the two words ts'e, — 

 the one denoting "loadstone," the other "porcelain." As the written 



1 King te chen t'ao lu, Ch. 10, p. 12 b (new edition, 1891). 



'Palladius (Chinese-Russian Dictionary, Vol. II, p. 343) states under this word, 

 "Magnet; suitable for the eyes; employed in the making of bowls and pillows; 

 porcelain." 



'According to Pliny (Nat. hist., xxxvi, 66, § 192), magnet-stone was added to 

 glass during the process of making the latter, because it was credited with the 

 property of attracting liquefied glass as well as iron (Mox, ut est ingeniosa sollertia, 

 non fuit contenta nitrum miscuisse; coeptus addi et magnes lapis, quoniam in se 

 liquorem vitri quoque ut ferrum trahere creditur). The correctness of this report 

 has been called into doubt. The Arabic mineralogy ascribed to Aristotle has 

 replaced the magnet-stone by the stone magnesia as being added to glass (J. Rusk A, 

 Steinbuch des Aristoteles, p. 171). In another passage (ibid., p. 129) it is said that 

 glass cannot be finished without the stone magnesia; the latter denotes manganese, 

 which serves for the refinement of glass fluxes. Whether Pliny is guilty of a con- 

 fusion in the case, or whether he really reproduces a tradition current in his time, 

 can hardly be decided. 



