78 



VISIT TO A 



Chap. V, 



CHAPTER Y. 



Visit a collector of ancient works of art — His house and garden — 

 Inspect his collections of old orackle china and other vases, &c. — 

 Fondness of Chinese for their own ancient works of art — Description 

 of ancient porcelain most prized by them — Ancient enamels — 

 Foo-chow enamels — Jade-stone — Eock crystal — Magnetic iron 

 and other minerals — Gold-stone — Red lacquer and gold japan — 

 Porcelain bottles found in Egyptian tombs — Found also in China 

 at the present day . — Age of these — Mr. Medhursf s remarks. 



A SHORT time after the events took place whicli 

 I have related in the last chapter, and before 

 leaving this part of the country, I paid a visit to 

 another Chinese gentleman, whose acquaintance I 

 had formerly made in an old curiosity shop in 

 Ningpo. Like myself he was an ardent admirer 

 and collector of ancient works of art, such as 

 specimens of china, bronzes, enamels, and articles 

 of that description. Neither of us collected what 

 are commonly known as curios^ such as ivory balls, 

 grotesque and ugly carvings in bamboo or sandal- 

 wood or soapstone, and such things as take the 

 fancy of captains of ships and their crews of jolly 

 tars when they visit the Celestial Empire. Above 

 all things, our greatest horror was modern china- 

 ware, an article which proves more than anything 

 else in the country how much China has degene- 

 rated in the arts. Tlie venders of such things 



