ANCIENT CHINESE POTTERY. 



Fig. 13. Fig. 14. Fig. 15. 



belonged to the Emperors YAO and CHUX, two of the most ancient 

 mentioned in the Chinese annals. YAO reigned in 2357 and 

 Cnrx in 2255 before Christ. Other authorities place the reign of 

 GHTTX in 2600 before Christ. It appears from the researches of 

 M. Stanislaus Julian that, from the time of the Emperor 

 HOAXG-TI, who reigned 2698 to 2599 before Christ, there had 

 always existed a public officer bearing the title of the Intendant of 

 Pottery, and that it was under the reign of Hoang-ti that the 

 potter's art was invented by KOUEX-OTJ. It is also certain that 

 porcelain, or fine pottery, was common in China in the time of the 

 Emperors HAX, 163 B.C. 



In digging the foundations of the palaces, erected by the 

 dynasties of Han and Thang, from 163 B.C. to 903 A.D. great 

 quantities of ancient vases were found which were of a pure 

 whiteness, but exhibited little beauty of form or fabrication. It 

 was only under the dynasty of SOXG, that is to say, from 960 to 

 1278 A. D., the Chinese porcelain began to attain a high degree of 

 perfection. 



15. Further evidence of the antiquity of4he potter's art in China 

 as well as of the existence of intercommunication between that 

 country and Egypt, is supplied by the discoveries of Rossellini, 

 "Wilkinson, and others, who found numerous Yases of Chinese 

 fabrication, and bearing Chinese inscriptions, in the Tombs at 

 Thebes. Professor Rosellini found a small vase of Chinese porce- 

 lain with a painting of a flower on one side, and on the other 

 Chinese characters not differing much from those used at the 



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