364 
PEKING. 
Chap. XXII. 
stone, ancient porcelain, bronzes, and other works 
of an early period. One old man, in particular, 
had some beautiful examples, which it was impos- 
sible for a lover of Oriental porcelain to resist, and 
although he asked high prices for them I was 
obliged to submit. These pieces are now in my 
collection, and, as I sometimes look at them, they 
bring vividly back to my memory my old friend 
in Loo-le-chang. 
A street in the same quarter of the city, and 
named Ta-sha-lar, is also famous for its collections 
of works of art both ancient and modem. Speci- 
mens of carved jade-stone and rock crystal are 
plentiful in this street, and not unfrequently very 
fine examples may he purchased at a moderate 
price. The greater part of the porcelain is of the 
Kein-lung period, and although not ancient is very 
far superior to the porcelain made in China at the 
present day. According to the Chinese, that 
Emperor was a great patron of the arts, and tried 
to copy and imitate the productions of the ancients. 
But beautiful as the productions in his reign un- 
doubtedly were, they were far inferior 4o those 
manufactured during the dynasty of the Mings. 
The wonderful and lovely colours in turquoise, 
ruby, apple green, and red found in the ancient 
specimens are still unrivalled by anything which 
has been produced in more modern times, either in 
China or amongst the civilised nations of the West. 
Some of the foreign residents in Peking and Tien- 
tsin had, from time to time, picked up some beau- 
