THE CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 455 



54, 55. Plates (a pair) of white K'auglisi porcelain, decorated inside with a painting 

 in natural colors of the great Taoist sage and philosopher Lao Yze, with 

 lofty head, seated under a tree; his attendant is preparing writing materials 

 for his use. Round the brim are the eight Buddhistic emblems joined by 

 conventional foliage of natural color, but of paler tones than the central 

 design. Mark, as on No. 44. Diameter, 6^ inches. 



Lao Tze was the founder of the Taoist system of philosophy. He is said 

 to have been surnamed Li and named Erh, but his history is almost 

 altogether legendary. His biography, as given by the great histo- 

 rian Ss'u-ma Chieif, who wrote the first comprehensive survey of the 

 history of China from the legendary period of Huangti down to B. C. 

 104, contains, however, some particulars which may be considered 

 authentic. According to this account he was the keeper of the records 

 at Lo, the capital of the Chou dynasty, about the close of the sixth 

 century, B. C, and professed a doctrine of abstraction from worldly 

 cares based upon speculations regarding Tao, Reason, and Te, Virtue. 

 This excited the curiosity of Confucius, who is said to have visited 

 him and to have retired disconcerted at his bold flights of imagina- 

 tion. The veracity of the statement regarding this meeting is, how- 

 ever, open to doubt. After a long period of service Lao Tze is said 

 to have retired to the West, after confiding to Yin Hsi, the keeper of 

 the frontier pass of Han Ku, a written statement of his philosophy, 

 the Tao-fe-c/tm^r, or Classic of Reason and Virtue. Later mystics im- 

 proved upon this account by assigning a period of mythical antiquity 

 and a miraculous conception through the influence of a star to Lao 

 Tze's birth, alleging him to have been the incarnation of the supreme 

 celestial entity. Accordingto the Lieh-hsien ch'uan, an accountof the 

 Taoist genii, he became incarnate B. C, 1321, in the State of Ts'u. 

 His mother brought him forth from her left side beneath a plum 

 tree, to which he at once pointed, saying: "I take my surname 

 (namely, Li, a plum) from this tree," When born his head was white 

 and his countenance that of an aged man, from which circumstance 

 he derived his name of Lao Tze, the Old Child. The remainder of 

 the account resembles that given above, except that he is made to 

 live for centuries, eventually retiring to the West about B. C, 1080. 

 No countenance is given, however, in the writings ascribed to his 

 pen to supernaturalism of any kind, and the legends regarding hia 

 life have evidently been largely colored by the accounts given by 

 Buddhistic writers of the life of S'akyamuni. The ideas contained in 

 the Tao-te-ching of Lao Tze, which has been translated into English, 

 French, and German, are thus summed up by Mr. Mayers {op. cit., 

 No. 336): "Creation proceeding from a vast, intangible, impersonal 

 first principle, self-existent, self-developing, the mother of all things. 

 The operation of this creative principle fulfilled in the nature of man, 

 the highest development of which again is to be sought for in a re- 

 turn through ' quietism ' and ' non-action ' to the mother principle. 

 The highest good is accordingly to be enjoyed in a (ranscendental 

 abstraction from worldly cares, or freedom from mental perturbation. 

 In a doctrine such as this it is not difficult to trace at least a super- 

 ficial likeness to the theories of Brahmioism, and whether originally 

 derived from Hindu thought or not it is probable that the culti- 

 vation of Lao Tze's teachings had a potent influence in preparing 

 the way for an influx of the metaphysical speculations of Indian 

 philosophers to satisfy a mental craving not provided for in the sim- 

 ple materialism which Confucius expounded. At least the latitude 



