As to the antiquity of hall marks, it was not considered anachronistic to cut one on a Han granary urn which is now in the British Museum; but unfortunately as the cutting was done after the ware was baked it is now impossible to say at what period it was executed. A Sung example is quoted in the Ni ku lu (written in the middle of the sixteenth century) as inscribed on a Ting Chou vase in the handwriting of the Mi family, viz., jên ho kuan
(Hotel of Benevolence and Harmony). A similar mark similarly placed is
jên ts´un t´ang (Hall of Benevolence), on a Tz´ŭ Chou jar in the Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Hall marks on Ming porcelain are rare. There is, however, one which occurs fairly often on late Ming porcelains of various kinds, including pieces decorated in blue and blue and white, underglaze red, blue and enamel colours, pierced designs and slip. This is
yü t´ang chia ch´i, "beautiful vessel for the Jade Hall."
It is improbable that the yü t´ang was a factory name, as the specimens so marked have little homogeneity. Giles's Dictionary tells us that yü t´ang is a name for the Han Lin College at Peking, which was so called in memory of Chou Chih–lin of the Sung dynasty, upon whom the Emperor bestowed these two characters in admiration of his qualities. From this we might infer that the wares so marked were made for the Han Lin; but why, one asks, in that case should the examples in our collections be so many and so evidently of the same period? On the whole I prefer to regard the mark as of general (and complimentary) significance, i.e. "beautiful vessel for the home of pure worth," like another mark much affected on late Ming porcelain fu kuei chia ch´i ("fine vessel for the rich and honourable!").