438 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



seldom used for this purpose. The greater part of Chinese and Japan- 

 ese porcelains is covered with compound glazes, obtained by a mixture 

 of substances of which the proportions vary according to the nature 

 of the article, lime being the material added to the petrosilix to ren- 

 der it more easily fusible ; and, in some cases, the ratio added is so large 

 tliat it represents a fourth of the total weight. In the preparation of 

 the glaze the use of fern leaves is sometimes mentioned. The residue 

 of the leaves after burning appears, however, to be cast aside, and 

 what purpose these leaves exactly served has never been determined. 

 As regards the manner of applying the glaze the Chinese, as has 

 been shown, are ignorant of the method of subjecting the porcelain to 

 a preliminary baking and then utilizing the want of porousness thus 

 gained to immerse the vessel in the liquid glaze. Instead, they applj'' 

 it by aspersion and immersion or by insufflation. For example, take 

 a cup. It is held by the outside slanting over a basin contain- 

 ing the liquid glaze. Sufficient of the glaze is then thrown on the 

 inside to cover the surface. This is aspersion. The outside is then 

 immersed in the liquid, the workman dexterously keeping the vessel in 

 equilibrium with the hand and a small stick. The foot having remained 

 in its original state, the cup is then carried, covered as it is with glaze, 

 to the wheel that the foot may be hollowed and finished; a mark in 

 color is added on the hollowed portion, which is then covered with glaze. 

 When the ware is too delicate to be treated in this manner, the glaze is 

 applied by insufflation. A piece of gauze attached to a hollow tube 

 having been plunged in the colored glaze (red or blue) or uncolored 

 glaze, the workman scatters the liquid from the gauze onto the vessel 

 by blowing through the opposite end of the tube three, four or even as 

 many as eighteen times. 



BAKING. 



The porcelain being then ready for baking, it is taken to the kilns, 

 wbich are usually situated at some distance from the workshops andbe- 

 long to persons whose sole occupation is to superintend the baking. 

 The large pieces are placed one by one in a separate seggar made by 

 hand, covers being dispensed with by piling the seggars one on another. 

 Several of the smaller pieces are placed in the same seggar, the floor un- 

 der each being covered with a layer of sand and kaolin refuse to pre- 

 vent adhesion. The porcelain being still in a soft state, great care must 

 be exercised in placing it in its seggar. It is not touched, therefore, 

 with the hand, but transferred into the seggar by an ingenious contriv- 

 ance of cords and sticks. The bottom of the kiln is tilled with a thick 

 layer of gravel on which the seggars are piled, those under the chim- 

 ney, the two seggars at the bottom of each pile, and that at the top be- 

 ing left empty, as their contents would not be thoroughly baked. The 

 finest pieces are placed in the center, those with harder glaze at the 

 entry near the hearth, and the coarsest farthest in. The piles are 



