rOllCELAIX AXD FAIEXCE.
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made in imitation of European forms, particularly dinner and tea sets, eotfee-cups, etc. The vases are very numerous, and many of them of great size and elaborate decoration. Crackled ware and specimens of jp&te-sur-pdte are not wanting, and the whole is made the more interesting by a collection of old porcelain, bronzes and cloissonee enamels, sent by Archdeacon Gray.
Amongst the vases we find several of the beautiful red color, so much prized in China, particularly if old, as indeed is the case with all old specimens, whether of china, bronze or enamel. Very old specimens command enormous prices, and are frequently counterfeited. Among other objects to be noted are garden-seats, in celadon, with raised ornaments in white,— -pate-sur-pate ,—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 ware exported to Europe and America, chiefly the highlv decorated dinner and tea services, is from Hong- Kong.
According to Julien, the manufacture of porcelain in China was commenced in the country of Sinping, Honan, under the Han dynasty, and, therefore, some time between b. c. 185 and a. d. 87. In the year 60, porcelain was in common use. 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, after which it became more abundant, through the importations by the Portuguese and the Dutch, who traded in it largely.
Cloissoxee Examels.
The Chinese section, as indeed the English, French, and Japanese sections of the Exhibition, was very rich in displays * of this peculiar ware, -which may be regarded as a connecting link between porcelain and bronze. It is an ancient art in China and Japan, but is now receiving increased attention there, owing to the foreign demand, and pieces of great size
Catalogue Museum Practical Geology, 1871.