CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 315 



argues that the porcelain manufactured under the Sui and preceding 

 d3'nastie.s is uniformly denominated t^'ao^ that from the latter half of 

 the T'ang dynasty this word is replaced by the designation y<io^ which 

 has continued in use up to the present time, and that the change in name 

 coincides with a change in the character of the porcelain manufactured. 



The word yao as a designation of porcelain came into general use, 

 it is true, at the beginning of the T'ang dynasty, but that fact 

 would scarcely justify the conclusion that it was designedly intro- 

 duced in order to mark a synchronous change in the character of the 

 ware, since the same word, which is in any case but a neutral term 

 applicable to any kind of pottery, is met with four centuries earlier 

 to designate some of the products of the Wei dynasty, and besides, 

 in the titles of the chapters in the Provincial Topographies dealing with 

 these manufactures, also in the Treatise on Potter}^ (the T'ao shuo, 

 written b}' Chu T'ung-ch'uan during the reign of Chien-lung, 1736 to 

 1795, the authorit}' on this subject), and in the work translated by M. 

 Julien, it is the word f'ao^ not yao^ that is used to designate porcelain. 

 Chinese terminology is but an insecure foundation on which to base 

 arguments, and it might with no less fairness be contended, as the Chi- 

 nese author translated by M. Julien does contend, that the introduc- 

 tion of the character fe'w, signifying '' porcelain," and employed down 

 to the present day to designate the pottery of the Han dynasty, was 

 rendered necessary by the production of an article hitherto unknown, 

 and that tliis article was true porcelain. 



On different grounds from those advanced by M. du Sartel, Doctor 

 Hirth, al>^o. refers the earliest manufacture of true porcelain to the T'ang 

 instead of to the Han dynasty. He says: ''The Cheng-lei-pen-ts'ao, 

 the pharmacopceia of the Sung dynasty, compiled in 1108, under the 

 head of 'Porcelain Earth' (Kaolin) or Pai-ngo, (luotes from the writ- 

 ings of T'ao Yin-chii that ' this substance is now much used for paint- 

 ing pictures,' and from the T'ang pen-ts'ao, the pharmacopoeia of the 

 T'ang dynasty, compiled about 650: ' This earth is now used for painters' 

 work, and rarely enters into medical prescriptions; during recent gen- 

 erations it has been used to make white porcelain.'" As T'ao Yin- 

 chii was a celebrated author on pharmaceutical and other scientitic 

 subjects, who died A. D. .536, Doctor Hirth argues that had the pui-iu/o 

 or kaolin been used in his time oti an extensive scale in the manufac- 

 ture of chinaware, so learned a writer would almost certainly have 

 mentioned the subject, and he therefore concludes that porcelain 

 earth for the manufacture of potteiy came into use later than 536, 

 and at some time during the T'ang period, prior to 650. about which 

 date the pharmacopujia of that dynast}^ was compiled. 



This negative testimony does not, however, dispose of the strong argu- 

 ment in favor of the earlier date, afforded by the coining during the Han 

 dynasty of a new word, tz''u, to designate the productions of that age, 



