CERAMICS. 461 



furnaces there. Burning establishments for earthenware, however, 

 had been in existence there since 583 A.D., according- to Salvetat, as 

 the necessary raw material was found in the neighbourhood. St. 

 Julien states that porcelain was manufactured much earlier, and 

 places its invention between 185 B.C. and 83 A.D. It has been 

 objected to this, with justice, that the Chinese statements on which 

 he bases his theory, are like those of Marco Polo,^ very superficial 

 and indefinite, and most probably relate to quite other clay-wares. 



The conception of porcelain ~ in Europe also, as late as the 17th 

 century, was oftentimes a false one, as the Netherlanders often 

 called their opaque Fa'ience, porcelain, just as Bottger later made 

 the same mistake with his red and brown stone-ware. Names 

 signify little in this connection, but the meaning is everything. 

 The Chinese at this time used the name Thao for their glazed 

 opaque earthenware, says Sartel,^ while the designation Yao, for 

 porcelain, is said to appear first in the 9th century. It is to be 

 presumed, therefore, that the hard, shell-like white and transparent 

 wares which we call porcelain, were first manufactured at the be- 

 ginning of the 9th century. The first unequivocal mention of 

 porcelain, made by the Arab Soleiman, who visited China about 

 the middle of the 9th century, agrees with this opinion. W. Wil- 

 liams,* who is well acquainted with China, mentions prominently 

 that King-te-tschin did not furnish a better sort of porcelain till 

 after 1000 A.D. This was the time when the cobalt decorations 

 under glaze were first employed, which from then till now have 

 played such an important part in the ornamentation of Chinese 

 porcelain, especially for domestic use among the Chinese them- 

 selves. 



I must not omit to mention here, that the late Sir Harry Parkes, 

 during his long residence in China and Japan, was always of the 

 opinion that porcelain was not known till the twelfth or the be- 

 ginning of the thirteenth century. The fact that Chinese porce- 

 lain was not known in Japan till the 13th century, harmonizes with 

 this opinion. Captain Brinkley, in his work on the history of 

 Japanese Ceramics, calls attention to this, pointing to the fact that 

 Japan, from its earliest connection with China, either in direct 

 communication, or by way of Corea, has prized and imported the 

 manifold productions of Chinese art industry, and it seems doubly 

 striking, therefore, that porcelain did not appear earlier, if existing 

 at that time. 



^ " Histoire et Fabrication de la Porcelaine Chinoise," par S. Julien. Preface 

 de M. Salvetat. Paris, 1856. 



" The name porcelain was introduced by the Portuguese, who were the first 

 to bring large quantities of Chinese products to Europe. It refers to the ex- 

 terior appearance, resembling the shiny white of the Cyprsea or porcelain 

 shell (Port. Porcellana). 



^ O. du Sartel, " Zur Geschichte der chin. Keramik," in the catalogue of the 

 Orientahsche-Keramischen Ausstellung in Vienna, 1884. 



^ "The Middle Kingdom." Vol. ii. p. 23. London, 1883. 



