318 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



n'eii voirroit pas si grando (luantite ni <le si grandes pieces s'il les falloit apporter de 

 si loing. Une esguiero, un pot on nn autre vaisseaii, pour petite qu'elle soit, couste 

 \in duoa,t; si c'est quelfjue grand vase, il coustera davantage. 



Et les voyant uoinmez d'une appellation nioderne et cherehant leur etymologie 

 franc^oise, j'y trouve qu'ils sont nommez du noni que tient une espece de coquille de 

 porcelaine. Mais I'affinite de la diction Murex correspond il Murrhina; toutefois je ne 

 cherche I'etymologie (jue du noni fran(;:ois en ce que nous disons vaisseaux de pource- 

 layne, scachans que les Grecs nomment la mirrhe de Smirna, les vaisseaux qu'on vend 

 pour ce aujourd'lmi en nos pais, nommez de pourcelaine, ne tiennent tache de la 

 nature des anciens; et combien que les nieilleurs ouvriers de I'ltalie n'en font jioint 

 de telz, toutefois, ils vendent leurs ouvrages pour vaisseaux de pourcelaine, combien 

 qu'ils n'ont pas la niatiere de mesnie. ' ^ 



THE FIVE DYNASTIES, 907 TO 959. 



To the T'ang- .succeeded the epoch of the live dynasties, all of them 

 short-lived and naming themselves successors to some one of the more 

 important dynasties thai had preceded them. 



Under one of these, the Posterior Chou, during the reign of the 

 Emperor Shih-tsung (054 to 959), a celebrated porcelain, far superior to 

 any yet produced, was manufactured in the district of Pien, the present 

 department of K-aifeng, in Honan province. It is described as being 

 sky-l)lue in color, of l)rilliant surface, thin as paper, and giving out a 

 clear musical sound when struck, the only defect being that the base 

 was apt to be disfigured by the remains of the coarse sand on which the 

 vessel had rested in the furnace, and which had become attached to it 

 during the process of baking. The color was adopted in obedience to 

 an imperial order that porcelain intended for palace use should thence- 

 forward be ' ' as blue as the clear sky after rain. " This porcelain, which 

 was consequently termed Yil-yao^ "Imperial porcelain," and. after the 

 accession of the succeeding dynastj'^, 6yi'rt«-y(;/«9, "Ch'ai porcelain " (Ch'ai 

 being the Emperor's family name), was very highly prized, and becom- 

 ing in subsequent years, owing to its delicate make, exceedingl}^ rare, 

 the smallest fragments were treasured as cap ornaments or necklace 

 pendants. Porcelain, blue in color and with the characters "blue as 

 the clear sky after rain" stamped in the glaze, is at the present time to 

 be obtained in China. It is scarcely necessary to state, however, that 

 such specimens do not date from the time of Shih-tsung; on the contrary, 

 the}^ are of quite modern manufacture. Already in the sixteenth cen- 



'Du Sartel, Porcelaine Chinoise, j). 33. 



■^Florio, in bis Italian dictionary (1598), gives '' Porcdinnn, a kinde of fine earth 

 called Por(;elane, whereof they make fine China dishes called Porcellan dishes. China, 

 a Venus basin," i. e., a Venice basin. It may reTuain a question whether Majolica, 

 exported by way of Venice, was called China from a supposed resemblance to oriental 

 porcelain, or whether the wares alluded to by Florio were in fact oriental. Minsheu, 

 inhisSiianish dictionary (1599), gives '^ Porrrllana, a kinde of earthen vessel 1 painted; 

 costly fruit dishes of fine earth, painted " — quoted in Marryat's History of Pottery 

 and Porcelain, p. 242. 



