CHATS ON
ORIENTAL CHINA

DESCRIPTION OF VASE.

High-necked vase with melon-shaped body and double protuberance above. One of a pair. Formal handles on the neck in imitation of bamboo-work. The body and protuberances decorated with bamboo stems having yellow and green reserves decorated with flowers and plants. The neck decorated with diaper pattern, yellow on green. The flattened top ornamented with black and green triangle-work.

Period, (Kang-he) 1662-1722.

PREFACE

If there is one regret that accompanies the issue of these "Chats on Oriental China" it is that the illustrations could not be given in all the beauty of their magnificent colouring. In a photograph, however fine it may be, it is obvious that only the shape and the decoration can be given. Roughly speaking, the illustrations represent in its Ming and Kang-he specimens about £100,000 in value. The pieces represented are the most admirable and the rarest. The reader is advised to bestow much attention on the reading of the descriptions accompanying each picture. There is no form of instruction more valuable than this analysis, which forms the basis of the sale catalogues of the most recherché collections.

The collector who masters this book may betake himself to the museums with considerable confidence that he will be in a position to understand; in fact, to read the pieces which he wishes to study. Take for example, the unique Salting Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. To the ordinary visitor interested in porcelain the specimens present an exquisite, if embarrassing, assembly of choice pieces whose colour, decoration, and age cannot be grasped, they can only be admired. The eye may be trained, but the understanding never. The absence of a catalogue handicaps and indeed baffles the amateur. But if the knowledge previously obtained is sufficient to enable him to master the subject, the style, form, and colour, nothing can give more pleasure than the investigation of such a collection which has been brought together at a vast expense of time, money, and knowledge. In the British Museum the descriptive labels are helpful.

In this book the reader will find some statements repeated perhaps over and over again. When we chat about anything we do repeat the points on which we want information, or in which we may be specially interested. The information is concise, so that, section by section, the range of Oriental porcelain will pass before the student, the chief consideration which regulates the letterpress being the space at our disposal.

Naturally the labour bestowed on repression is considerable. When we consider the National Collections of England, France, and Germany alone we find material for many volumes. Perhaps of all the museums that of Limoges, where the Jacquemart and Gasnault collections are so well cared for, is one of the most instructive, and the lover of old Oriental could not do better than spend a holiday at this delightful old French town with the object of really learning what these two friends teach.

With regard to books of reference, all of the recognised authorities have been studied, especially the Jacquemart and Gasnault catalogues and descriptions, and the Petit Guide Illustre au Musée Guimet. The visitor to Paris should make a point of visiting this museum, so little known, so intensely interesting, at the junction of the Rue Boissière and the Avenue d'Iena. Its aim is to propagate a knowledge of the civilisation of the East, to facilitate the study of ancient historical religions largely by means of images, statuettes, or figures. There we see classified methodically, in chronological order, representations of the various divinities in which form and attitude both have a meaning. The specimens are old and rare. The catalogue of the Franks Collection is referred to in the various chapters. Formerly exhibited at the Bethnal Green Museum, the collection is now distributed in the British Museum, where the pieces may be recognised as having a printed description. The two volumes by the late W. G. Gulland are delightful and very helpful, and it was the privilege of the writer to have spent some hours in his company shortly before his lamented decease.

I owe sincere thanks to Mr. Edgar Gorer, of S. Gorer and Son, Bond Street, for his constant courtesy and his kindness in supplying most of the fine illustrations in the book, and for securing permission from other collectors to use their photographs. And more than this, his practical knowledge has been put at my disposal in every way, and specially in reading the proofs. To Messrs. Duveen Brothers, of Bond Street, I am indebted for specimens specially noted. To other friends who have helped recognition is due, especially to Mr. C. H. McQueen, whose knowledge of Chinese porcelain has been altogether at my disposal.

The marks are those given in the Franks catalogue, in Mr. Gulland's books, and in the Guimet Museum guide. The vastness of the subject here shortly treated may bring many collectors into touch with one another, and the author hopes that they will avail themselves of the opportunity of using him as the medium for this intercommunication.

Finally, with regard to the illustrations and the lessons they teach, the reader will note that vases have been selected wherever this has been possible. Generally speaking the vase, being an ornamental and purely decorative object, has received from the Chinese potter that artistic—one is almost tempted to say that reverential—treatment which embodies all that is best in his ceramic art. For the rest, it may be that the mythological aspects of the Oriental decoration, its divinities and their attributes, have received unusual attention. The Buddhist faith, here feebly exposed, embodies the highest truths, and Taoism, the more popular religion, cannot be neglected by any student of Oriental porcelain. The Japanese section is not illustrated. Japanese collectors are keen in collecting old Chinese specimens.

CONTENTS