<}(>2 REl'OKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, lUUO. 



As regards the manner of applying the glaze the Chinese, as has 

 been shown, are ignorant of the method of subjecting the porcelain to 

 a preliminary l)aking and then utilizing the want of porousness thus 

 gained to immerse the vessel in the li(iuid glaze. Instead, the}' apply 

 it by aspersion and immersion or by insufflation. For example, take 

 a cup. It is held b}' the outside shmting over a basin containing the 

 liquid glaze. Sufficient of the glaze is then thrown on the inside to 

 cover the surface. This is aspersion. The outside is then inmiersed 

 in the liquid, the workman dexterously keeping the vessel in equilib- 

 rium with the hand and a small stick. The foot having remained in 

 its original state, the cup is then carried, covered as it is with glaze, 

 to the wheel that the foot may be hollowed and finished; a mark in 

 color is added on the hollowed portion, which is then covered with glaze. 

 When the ware is too delicate to be treated in this manner, the glaze 

 is applied by insufflation. A piece of gauze attached to a hollow tube 

 having been plunged in the colored glaze (red or blue) or uncolored 

 glaze, the workman scatters the liquid from the gauze on to the vessel 

 by blowing through the opposite end of the tube three, four, or even 

 as man}' as eighteen times. 



BAKING. 



The porcelain being then ready for leaking, it is taken to the kilns, 

 which are usually situated at some distance from the workshops and 

 Vjelong to persons whose sole occupation is to superintend the baking. 

 The large pieces are placed one by one in a separate seggar made by 

 hand, covers being dispensed with by piling the seggars one on another. 

 Several of the smaller pieces are placed in the same seggar, the floor 

 under each being covered with a layer of sand and kaolin refuse to pre- 

 vent adhesion. The porcelain l)eing still in a soft state, great care must 

 be exercised in placing it in its seggar. It is not touched, therefore, 

 with the hand, l)ut transferred into the seggar by an ingenious contriv- 

 ance of cords and sticks. The bottom of the kiln is tilled with a thick 

 layer of gravel on which the seggars are piled, those under the chim- 

 ney, the two seggars at the bottom of each pile, and that at the top 

 ))eing left empty, as their contents would not be thoroughh' baked. 

 The flnest pieces are placed in the center, those with harder glaze at 

 the entry near the hearth, and the coarsest farthest in. The piles are 

 strongly bound together, and, the stacking of the oven being completed, 

 the door is bricked up. From the description given of the kilns by 

 P. d'Entrecolles it appears that they are much the same as those used 

 in early times at Vienna and Berlin. 



After the baking begins a low fire is kept up for twenty-four hours,, 

 which is then followed ])v one more powerful. At the top of the kiln 

 are four or five small holes covered with broken pots, one of which is 

 opened when it is thought the baking is completed, and by means of 



