THE CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 393 



ware, since tlie same word, whicli is in any case bnt a neutral term 

 applicable to any kind of pottery, is met with four centuries earlier 

 to designate some of the products of the Wei dynasty ; and, besides, 

 in the titles of the chapters in the Provincial Topographies dealing with 

 these manufactures, also in the Treatise on Pottery (the T'ao shuo, 

 written by Chu T'ung-ch'uan during the reign of Chien-lung, 1736 to 

 1795, the authority on this subject), and in the work translated by M. 

 Julien, it is the word Pao, not yao, that is used to designate porcelain. 

 Chinese terminology is but an insecure foundation on which to base 

 arguments, and it might with no less fairness be contended, as the Chi- 

 nese author, translated by M. Julien does contend, that the introduc- 

 tion of the character tz'u, signifying "porcelain," and employed down 

 to the present day to designate the pottery of the Han dynasty, was 

 rendered necessary by the production of an article hitherto unknown, 

 and that this article was true porcelain. 



On different grounds from those advanced by M. du Sartel, Dr. Hirth, 

 also, refers the earliest manufacture of true porcelain to the T'ang in- 

 stead of to the Han dynasty. He says: "The Cheng-lei-pen-ts'ao, the 

 pharmacopoeia of the Sung dynasty, compiled in 1108, under the head 

 of 'Porcelain Earth' (Kaolin) or Pai-ngo, quotes from the writings of 

 T'ao Ymchli that 'this substance is now much used for painting pic- 

 tures,' and from the T'ang pen-ts'ao, the pharmacopoeia of the T'ang 

 dynasty, compiled about 650 : ' This earth is now used for painters' work, 

 and rarely enters into medical prescriptions ; during recent generations 

 it has been used to make white porcelain.'" As T'ao Yin-chli was a cel- 

 ebrated author on pharmaceutical and other scientific subjects, who died 

 A. D. 536, Dr. Hirth argues that had the pai-n(fo or kaolin been used in 

 his time on an extensive scale in the manufacture of chinaware, so 

 learned a writer would almost certainly have mentioned the subject, and 

 he therefore concludes that the use of porcelain earth for the manufac- 

 ture of pottery came into use later than 536, and at some time during 

 the T'ang period, prior to 650, about which date the pharmacopoeia of 

 that dynasty was compiled. 



This negative testimony does not, however, dispose of the strong 

 argument in favor of the earlier date, afforded by the coining during the 

 Han dynasty of a new word, tz'"u, to designate the productions of that 

 age, a word which, as already stated, is still in ordinary use to desig- 

 nate porcelain. On this point Dr. Hirth thinks he has detected that 

 the word tz^u has had different significations at different epochs, for 

 while in the Shuo-wen, a glossary published A. D. 100, tz^u is defined 

 as " earthenware," it is defined in the dictionaries of the Sung period — 

 nine centuries later — as " hard, fine-grained pottery ; " and calling atten- 

 tion to the fact that there are now two forms of this character in use, the 

 original form with the radical denoting "brick or earthen material," 

 and a later form with the radical "stone," he thinks that "this substitu- 

 tion by later generations for the original sign of a character of the same 

 sound, but with a radical more appropriate to the category of the word 



