556 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1938 



Besides the heavy export of gold already alluded to, and in spite 

 of the high rate of destruction which the lapse of 2,000 years entails, 

 we have definite evidence in specimens surviving to our own time of 

 the export from the Roman Orient of at least one kind of luxury 

 article, namely glass. Apart from beads, concerning which I shall 

 have more to say later, we can recognize nearly a dozen pieces of early 

 "Mediterranean" 20 glass still existing in Korea, China, and Japan, 

 and Stein found many fragments of glass (apparently Roman) during 

 his excavations. Realizing when on a visit to the Far East a few 

 years ago that glass might constitute an interesting feature of the 

 incoming trade from the West, I took the opportunity of noting all 

 the specimens of western glass that I was able to see, and also made 

 inquiries as to the occurrence of glass beads and pendants and other 

 small objects believed by the Chinese to be of considerable age. The 

 results were sufficiently encouraging to lead to further study, and 

 with the assistance of a number of kind friends — all specialists in 

 some aspect of the subject, whether in archeology or chemistry — it 

 has been possible to reach certain interesting conclusions. 21 



In 1929, in Korea, I was shown two perfect glass vessels, pronounced 

 by experts to have been made in the Roman Orient (no doubt Syria) 

 about the fourth century or a little later, excavated by the Japanese 

 from the royal graves of the kings of Silla, the kingdom which for at 

 least seven centuries from about 100 B. C. occupied what is now 

 southeastern Korea. One of these vessels, for the photograph of 

 which I am indebted to Prof. S. Umehara, is represented in plate 

 2, figure 1. These two specimens, with a large dish of "Roman," i. e., 

 probably Syrian, glass (pi. 2, fig. 2) of the third-fifth centuries A. D., 

 found in China (Honan) and now in the possession of Mrs. Margot 

 Holmes, are probably the earliest western glass vessels hitherto dis- 



*o We know nothing of the glass-making sites in classic lands in classic times. I therefore use "Mediter- 

 ranean" as a convenient term for glass made by the old civilizations which existed on its shores or in vital 

 contact with it, including Mesopotamia. 



« I would especially acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Horace Beck, whose unrivaled knowledge 

 of beads and early glass has been invaluable, as well as to Mr. R. L. Hobson, Mr. Bernard Rackham, Prof. 

 Perceval Yetts, and Mr. G. Eumorfopoulos for much kindly advice. On the chemical side I have had the 

 advantage of unlimited help from the Scientific Laboratories of the Courlauld Institute of Art (University 

 of London), so that it gives me the greatest pleasure to thank Prof. W. G. Constable, the Director of the 

 Institute, and Dr. P. D. Ritchie, lately Head of the Scientific Department, for their interest and assistance. 

 I am also greatly indebted to the Rt. Rev, Bishop White, formerly Bishop of Honan, for specimens and advice. 

 I should also like to acknowledge help given by Dr. Otto Samson, formerly of the Ethnographic Museum, 

 Hamburg, while for permission to reproduce figures 11 and 12 I must thank the authorities of the British 

 Museum and of the India Office, respectively. 



