CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 367 



CATALOGUE. 



1. Small dish for washing pencih-, Htiuare, with upright f^ides, of white Sung dynasty 



(A. D. 960 to 1259) i)oroelain, coarsely crackled. Height, J inch; diameter, 

 2J inches. 



2. Loir rase for washing pencils, s(juare, with sides bellying outwards from mouth 



downwards, having two four-footed lizanls with long, curled tails moulded 

 in relief crainj)ed on rim, and heads looking into trough, of white Sung 

 dynasty porcelain covered with stone-colored glaze, lleiglit, 1.', inches; 

 diameter, 3 inches and '^\ inches. 



3. Plate of white Chiinchow porcelain {Ckiin-i/ao) of Yiian dynasty (A. D. 12()0 to 



1349), covered with glaze of duck's-egg blue, of lighter tint at edge and 

 brim, from which glaze has rim, with large irregular splotches of claret red, 

 shading into purple at edges, where it mixes with blue color of the body. 

 Diameter, 7f inches. 



4. Low (lislt of white porcelain with openwork edge formed by intersecting circles; 



decoration Inside, six medallions, of dragons' ,/r»r/ huaiig, and formal designs 

 joined by conventional foliage; outside a light pattern in blue. Mark on 

 foot, Ta-ming-yiing-lo-nicn-chilt, "Made during the Yunglo period (1403 to 

 1424) of the Ming dynasty;" style of decoration and of writing in the date- 

 mark shows it, however, to be of Japanese manufacture. Diameter, 9f 

 inches. 



The lung or dragon is the chief of the four Chinese supernatural beasts, 

 the otlier three being the feng huaug (usually translated pluenix), 

 the ch'ili)! (usually translated unicorn), and the tortoise. It is usu- 

 ally represented with scowling head, straight horns, a scaly, serpen- 

 tine body with four feet armed with formidable claws; along the 

 length of the body runs a line of bristling dorsal spines, and on the 

 hips and shoulders are flame-like appendages. The claws appear to 

 have originally numbered three on each foot, but the number has 

 in subsequent ages been increased to five. The Shuo-wen, a dic- 

 tionary published in the second century A. D., states that of the 

 three hundred and sixty scaly reptiles the'dragon is the chief. It 

 wields the power of transformation and the gift of rendering itself 

 visible or invisible at jileasure. In spring it ascends to the skies 

 and in autunm it buries itself in the watery depths. The watery 

 principle in the atmosphere is essentially associated with the lung, 

 but its congener, the cltiao-lung, is inseparably connected with waters 

 gathered upon the surface of the earth. A denizen of such waters 

 is also the variety j)'an-lwig, which does not mount to heaven. 

 There is also a species of hornless dragon — the chin-lung. Kuan 

 Tz'u (seventh century B. C. ) declares that "the dragon becomes at 

 will reduced to the size of a silkworm or swollen till it fills the 

 space of heaven and earth. It desires to mount, and it rises till it 

 affronts the clouds; to sink, and it descends till hidden below the 

 fountains of the deep." The early cosmogonists enlarged upon the 

 imaginary data of previous writers, and averred tliat there were four 

 distinct kinds of dragons proper — the t'ien-lnng or celestial dragon, 

 which guards the mansions of the gods and supports them so that 

 they do not fall; the shen-lung or spiritual dragon, which causes the 

 winds to blow and produces rain for the benefit of mankind; the 

 ti-lung or dragon of earth, which marks out the courses of rivers 

 and streams; and the fn-ts'ang-lmig or dragon of hidden treasures, 



