THE INTRODUCTION OF CERAMIC GLAZES INTO CHINA, 

 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE MURRINE VASES 



We know at present as a fact that glazed pottery first appeared in 

 China during the Han period, and that the process of glazing earthen- 

 ware was unknown in pre-Han times. The Han potter's art was 

 revolutionized, as we have seen, by the adoption of this new technique, 

 which finally resulted, toward the middle or the close of the third cen- 

 tury, in the production of a peculiar porcelanous glaze, the forerunner 

 of true porcelain. Porcelain being universally considered as a truly 

 Chinese invention, the broader question may now be raised, Is the 

 invention of glazing, the technical foundation of porcelain, wholly 

 due to the genius of the Chinese, or was the impetus received from an 

 outside quarter? R. L. Hobson 1 has made the following general 

 reply to this query: "Though supported by negative evidence only, 

 the theory that the Chinese first made use of glaze in the Han period 

 is exceedingly plausible. In the scanty references to earlier wares 

 in ancient texts no mention of glaze appears, and, indeed, the severe 

 simplicity of the older pottery is so emphatically urged that such an 

 embellishment as glaze would seem to have been almost undesirable. 

 The idea of glazing earthenware, if not evolved before, would now be 

 naturally suggested to the Chinese by the pottery of the Western 

 peoples with whom they first made contact about the beginning of the 

 Han dynasty. Glazes had been used from high antiquity in Egypt; 

 they are found in the Persian bricks at Susa and on the Parthian 

 coffins, and they must have been commonplace on the pottery of west- 

 ern Asia two hundred years before our era." I am of the same opinion, 

 that Chinese knowledge of glazing is derived from the West, and 

 propose to discuss this problem on the following pages. I hope to 

 enlist all the available facts in the case, so as to place our theory on a 

 solid historical foundation. 



The course of my investigation is as follows. The home of glass, 

 glazed pottery, and faience, was Egypt and the anterior Orient; and 

 the reputation of this ware spread to Rome under the name "murrine 

 vessels." The latter subject, being still of a controversial nature, is 

 of especial importance in this connection, as it shows us the high appre- 

 ciation and expansion of glazed ware over the Mediterranean area at 



1 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, Vol. I, p. 8. 

 120 



