Porcelain

by Edward Dillon

PLATE XXVIII. CHINESE

find any direct evidence of this commerce.[137] As for the English trade, porcelain is mentioned among the goods imported by the East India Company as early as 1631.

For the most part this porcelain exported from Canton or from Nagasaki was not carried directly to Europe, but found its way first to various intermediate entrepôts of trade: in the case of the Dutch, to Batavia; with us, to certain Indian ports, or perhaps to Gombroon. This was one cause of the strange names by which the products of China and Japan were known, and of the confusion between the wares of the two countries, which has only been cleared up of late years. We hear of Batavian porcelain, and of East Indian or porcelaine des Indes.[138] No doubt this ambiguity of origin was encouraged by the rival traders, who were not eager to make too public the source of their goods.

As to the composition of the ‘purslayne’ brought from the Indies, the wildest stories were current. Whether it was even of the same nature as other kinds of pottery was disputed. Even so well-informed a man as Sir Thomas Browne had his doubts. ‘We are not thoroughly resolved,’ he says, ‘concerning porcellane or china dishes, that according to common belief they are made of earth.’ The quaint story of the clay being preserved for long ages before it was fit for use, we find for the first time apparently in some of the late versions of Marco Polo’s travels. From Marryat, who collected a wealth of quotations[139] referring to porcelain from writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we take as an example the following (it is from a book written by Guido Pancirolli, a learned jurisconsult and antiquary of Padua, who died in 1599):—‘In former ages, porcelains were never seen. Now they are a certain mass composed of gypsum, bruised eggs, the shell of the marine locust [perhaps the Langusta or Mediterranean lobster], and other substances; and this, being well tempered and thickened, is hidden underground in a secret place, which the father points out to his children, etc.’ He then goes on to speak of the transparency of this ware, and of its property of breaking when any poisonous substance was placed in it.

We must remember that by this time attempts had already been made in Italy, both in Tuscany and probably still earlier in Venice, to imitate the porcelain of China. These experiments were soon abandoned, but the more practical Dutch, not long after this time, succeeded in making with their enamelled earthenware an imitation of the finer Chinese blue and white, closer to the original, as far as external aspect is concerned, than anything that has been produced in Europe since that time in ware of any description. The name of Albregt de Keizer (circa 1661) it would seem is to be associated with these excellent copies. There are some brilliant specimens of this seventeenth century delft at South Kensington, both in the Keramic Gallery and in the Salting collection.

Early in the reign of Charles ii., the fashion of drinking tea and chocolate became fashionable, if not general, in England. Coffee had been introduced somewhat earlier—it came from Turkey by way of Venice. Along with these new infusions came the demand for the little cups from which they were to be drunk, and for the pots in which to brew them. The form and fashion of these came to us not from China but from Venice, from Constantinople, and perhaps ultimately from Persia. One consequence of this was that the confusion between the wares of the East and of the Far East became for the time even greater. In the drinking-song quoted on page 243, we find ‘tea-cups and coffee’ associated with ‘the Turk and the Sophi,’ while not a word is said of China.

At the same time larger pieces, garnitures de cheminée, pots pourris, and fish-bowls began to find a place in the decoration of a nobleman’s house. Before the end of the century there came in a rage for quaint monsters and figures of Chinese gods, at first chiefly in white porcelain. Many such pieces may still be found on the mantels and in the china-closets of our country houses, but unfortunately we have in few cases any record of the date of acquisition or of the provenance of ware of this kind.

At Hampton Court there is a quantity of old china now well displayed in the rooms shown to the public. This is a collection that well repays a close examination. Let us see first what it does not contain. The famille rose is unrepresented. I do not think that the rouge d’or enamel is to be found on a single specimen. The ‘Old Japan’ or Imari is not found, at least not in characteristic specimens. On the other hand there are many interesting examples of Chinese enamelled ware which we may class with the five-colour group (the blue of course under the glaze). They are roughly painted with figures in Ming costume, but in these pieces the green is scarcely prominent enough to allow of our placing them among the famille verte. They belong rather to that class of late Wan-li or early Kang-he enamels which formed the starting-point of the earliest enamelled wares of Imari and Kutani. Of the three-colour glazes of the demi grand feu, I would point to two interesting vases, about twelve inches in height, with a mottled decoration of green and dark purple, and with yellow handles. There are quite a number of large fish-bowls of blue and white, but these pieces are not remarkable either for colour or design. Of more interest are two cylindrical vases decorated, sous couverte, with blue and pale copper red, and a curious vase of Persian shape covered with flowers in white slip over a café au lait ground. Again, the plain white figures of Quanyin, with the ‘Maintenon’ coif, and in some cases with the boy patron of learning at the side, are here as abundant relatively as at Dresden, and there is finally a well-executed figure of a Buddhist ascetic in white biscuit. Unless it be by the blue and white, Japan is represented solely by the ‘Kakiyemon’ enamelled ware, with the blue over the glaze.