22 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XII. 



Ming epoch. To this conclusion, at least, I am prompted by a series 

 of celadons gathered by me in China and including specimens of the 

 Sung, Ming, and K'ien-lung periods. It is somewhat a matter of sur- 

 prise that a larger number of celadons has not been discovered on the 

 Philippines. Judging from the account of a Japanese writer on ceram- 

 ics, translated farther below, there must have been a large quantity 

 of this fine and curious pottery on the Islands in former times, and the 

 search of the Japanese for ceramic treasures there in the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries was chiefly prompted by their craving for cela- 

 dons. Maybe the Japanese have taken hold of the best specimens, 

 maybe these are still hidden away in solitary caves or untouched burial 

 mounds. We hope that these remarks will instigate present and future 

 explorers on the Islands to keep a vigilant watch on celadons, and to 

 pick up even small fragments, always with exact statements of locality, 

 site, nature of the find (underground, surface, cave, mound, etc.) and 

 traditions of the natives, if there are any, because they may be of great 

 significance. Everything relating to celadons is of utmost historical 

 importance; in almost every case, in my opinion at least, it is possible 

 to define the age or period of a piece of celadon, and also the place of 

 its production, — China, Japan, Korea, or Siam. The Sung celadons 

 are inimitable and could never be imitated, and the varying character 

 of this pottery through all ages affords a most fortunate clue to chrono- 

 logical diagnosis. 



In glancing over the collection of pottery brought home by Mr. 

 Cole, we are struck, first of all, by a certain uniform character of all 

 these pieces, if we leave aside the three small dishes reproduced on 

 Plate XVII, which in correspondence with their different ceramic char- 

 acter enter also a different phase of religious notions. Only in the 

 latter lot a single piece of porcelain is found (PI. XVII, Fig. 3). All 

 other specimens are characterized as stoneware of an exceedingly hard, 

 consistent and durable clayish substance; most of them are high and 

 spacious jars of large capacity; all of them are glazed, and well glazed, 

 and betray in the manner and color of glazing as well as in their shapes 

 and decorative designs a decidedly Chinese origin; all of them have a 

 concave unglazed bottom, most of them are provided with ears on the 

 shoulders for the passage of a cord to secure convenient handling and 

 carrying ; none of them is impressed with a seal, date-mark, or inscrip- 

 tion of any other kind. All of them are the products of solid workman- 

 ship executed with care and deliberation, apparently with a side-glance 

 at a customer who knew. On the whole, two principal types are dis- 

 cernible, — dragon-jars and plain jars. Both groups are distinguished 



