Introduction of Glazes into China 121 



a period synchronous with the coming into existence of this pottery 

 in China. This synchronism is not accidental, but is due to the wide 

 fame and diffusion of this novel process in the Far East. It will then 

 be set forth from Chinese records how the Chinese became acquainted 

 with it in consequence of their contact with the Roman-Hellenistic 

 Orient; how the materials required for the technique were propagated 

 to India, Cambodja, and China, and in what manner they were turned 

 to practical use by the ancient Chinese. 



If I venture to dwell here at some length on the much-disputed 

 murrine vases of the ancients, the main reason for this invasion of 

 foreign territory is that this subject seems to me to embody an essential 

 chapter in the history of the art of glazing, which allows us to grasp 

 clearly the significance of its eastward migration. My further line of 

 defence rests on various attempts made by older and more recent 

 authors to interpret the murrine vases as having been Chinese porce- 

 lain; and in further vindication I may point to two sinologues who in 

 the first part of the nineteenth century participated in the discussion 

 of this problem, — Joseph Hager and Abel-Remtjsat. The former 1 

 endeavored to prove in a hardly convincing manner that the substance 

 of which the murrines were made was identical with the jade of the 

 Chinese; while the latter 2 combated this opinion, and conclusively 

 demonstrated that Chinese nephrite does not at all correspond to 

 the description given by Pliny of the murrine vases. The chief argu- 

 ment which runs counter to this theory, and which has not been stated 

 by Abel-R6musat, is that ancient Chinese jade objects have as yet 

 not been traced in any country of classical civilization, and that nothing 

 is on record in regard to such a trade, either in Chinese or classical 

 documents. Moreover, the provenience of the murrines, as indicated 

 by Pliny and the Periplus Maris Erythraei, must not be disregarded: 

 they came from Egypt, Persia, and India, and were chiefly productions 

 of Persia. In none of these countries have we any evidence as to the 

 occurrence of Chinese jade pieces in ancient times. 3 



In a study devoted to the beginnings of porcelain in China, in which 

 an attempt has been made to determine more exactly the first appear- 

 ance of porcelanous ware on Chinese soil, a word may be permitted 



1 Description des m^dailles chinoises du Cabinet Imperial de France, pp. 150-168 

 (Paris, 1805). 



1 Histoire de la ville de Khotan, tiree des annales de la Chine et traduite du 

 chinois; suivie de recherches sur la substance minerale appel£e par les Chinois 

 pierre de Iu, et sur le jaspe des anciens, pp. 195-208 (Paris, 1820). 



* More recently the nephrite hypothesis with reference to the murrines has been 

 reiterated by A. von Nordenskiold (Umsegelung Asiens und Europas, Vol. II, p. 230). 



