PORCELAIN AM) FAIEXCE.
67
madc in Imitation of European forms, particularly dinner and
tea sets, coffee-cups, etc. The vases are very numerous,
and rnany of them of great size and elaborato decoration.
Crackled wäre and specimens of pdte-sur-pdte are not want-
hig, and the whole is made the more interesting by a collcc-
tion of old porcelain, bronzes and cloissonee enamels, sent by
Archdeacon Gray. •
Amongst the vases we find several of the beautiful red
color, so tnuch prized in China, particularly if old, as indeed
is the case with all old specimens, whethcr of china, brouze
or enamel. Yery old specimens command enormous priees,
and are frequently counterfcited. Among other objects to be
noted are garden-scats, in celadon, with raised Ornaments in
white,—pdte-sur-pdte,—admirably executed.
One great seat of the porcelain manufacture in China is on
the Poyana Lake, the outlet for the goods being via the Yan-
tse-Kiang.
Most of the wäre exported to Europe and America, chiefly
the highly decorated dinner and tea Services, is from Hong-
Kong.
According to Julien, the manufacture of porcelain in China
was commcnced in the country ot Sinping, Honan, under the
Han dynasty, and, therefore, some time between b. o. 185
and a. r>. 87. In the year 60, porcelain was in common usc.
Marco Polo saw the process of manufacture in the thirteenth
Century.*
Specimens of Chinese porcelain had reached Europe before
the Portuguese doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, aftei
which it became more abundant, through the importations by
the Portuguese and the Dutch, who traded in it largely.
Cloissonee Enamels.
The Chinese section, as indeed the English, Frcnch, and
Japanese sections of the Exhibition, was very rieh in displays
of this peculiar wäre, which may bo regardcd as a connecting
link between porcelain and bronzc. It is an ancient art in
China and Japan, but is now receiving increased attention
therc, owing to the foreigu demand, and pieces of great size
* Cataloguc Museum Practical Gcology, 1871.
