ETHNOLOGY. 417 



a skiff or gondola in green jade, presented in 1114 to the monastery of 

 St. Denis by Suger, who bought it for GO marcs of silver from the money- 

 lenders with whom Louis VI had pledged it ten years before. 



We must also mention the fine jades of the British ]\Iuseum in Lon- 

 don, those of the Chinese Museum of the Louvre and of Fontainebleau, 

 of the Museum of the Hague, of the Japanese palace at Dresden, and 

 the superb i)ieces, cut and uncut, in the ^Museum of Mineralogy at the 

 Jardin des I'lantes and the Ucole des Mines, in Paris. Among the private 

 collections, that of M. Montegay, formerly attached to the Chinese 

 mission, those of MM. iSTegroui, Pourtales, and especially of Due de 

 Morny, lately dispersed, included rare objects of this nature; and ex- 

 tremely curious specimens may also be seen in the cabinets of MM. Count 

 Choiserd, Count Blou, Marquis Hervey Saint Denys, Admiral Page, 

 Viscount Ch. de Montauban, and others. 



The amateur last cited possesses a cup dating from Nien-hao, 1736-95, 

 and showing this inscription : " Faug-kou, similar to the antique.'' It 

 is very difficult to distinguish copies from originals, as M. Albert Jacque- 

 mart says on this subject, when treating of sculptured works in an un- 

 changeable mineral, preserved by privileged classes, often devoted to 

 religious uses and reproduced in the same invariable design. The Em- 

 peror Kien-loung, the restorer of the ancient splendors of China, has 

 contributed not a little to this end, and increased the difficulty, as he 

 was pleased, according to written testimony, to have accurate copies 

 made of old types of work, and to express all inscriptions in the charac- 

 ters known as ta-tchouan. 



The art of sculpturing in jade, as to its origin, is referred back to the 

 most remote ages in the East, especially in China. Archaeologists en- 

 large upon these antiquities of the Celestial Empire, upon the infinite 

 delicacy of the work, as due to the patient assiduity of a man who is 

 never interrupted, and in whose estimation time is of no value. An ex- 

 ample is found in a narrative of a voyage made by the Arabians in the 

 ninth century. " The Chinese," says the Arab author, " are of the num- 

 ber of God's creatures having the greatest manual skill in all that relates 

 to design, the art of working, and every species of handicraft, not being- 

 surpassed in this respect by any nation. In China a man will execute 

 by manual dexterity that which no person could believe to be possible." 

 But unfortunately this industry instead of now advancing is everywhere 

 on the decline. Many important secrets of the skilled workman are lost, 

 and at this date the most skillful are unable to attain to the perfection 

 and finish so much admired in works of antiquity, so that the desire on 

 the part of rich Chinese to procure ka-toun or real antiquities is much 

 restricted. 



As to the true, principle of esthetics, several authors, Ghirardini at 

 their head, have concluded that with the Chinese the plastic arts and 

 rules of absolute beauty are uncomprehended. The English embassa- 

 dor, Staunton, confirms this view by declaring that the Chinese copy 

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