Porcelain.—Bronzes.—Silver-work.—Pictures.—Architecture.—Tea.—Silk.—White Wax.—Grass-cloth.—Ivory Fans.—Embroidery
Porcelain.—Bronzes.—Silver-work.—Pictures.—Architecture.—Tea.—Silk.—White Wax.—Grass cloth.—Ivory Fans.—Embroidery.
Even if I had the knowledge, it would be useless to attempt to write exhaustively of Chinese porcelain in one chapter; but a few shreds of information about it may be new to the general reader. Julien's theory that it was first made between the years 185 B.C. and A.D. 87 is set aside by Dr. Hirth, the greatest living authority upon ancient Chinese porcelain. The latter believes it was first made during the T`ang Dynasty, which lasted to A.D. 907; but there are no specimens of porcelain extant before the Sung Dynasty, which ended in 1259, the majority even then being of the class known as "celadons," which survived owing to their thickness and strength. The prevailing colour of these celadons is green, the colour of jade; and yellow is mentioned as one of the ingredients used for producing this colour. They were mostly made in the south-west of the province of Chekiang, taken by river to the Amoy waters, and thence distributed by Arab traders to Japan, Borneo, Sumatra, the west of Asia, and the east coast of Africa, in which last, curiously enough, large numbers 426have been discovered. They have been freely imitated at King-teh-chen, the great porcelain factory of China, as well as in Japan; but collectors should, it seems, have no difficulty in distinguishing the genuine articles, from their extreme hardness.
The safest guide to Chinese porcelain is Hsiang-tse-ching, who was collecting and cataloguing it whilst Shakespeare was writing his early poems, and whose richly illustrated catalogue has been translated. The most exquisite Chinese porcelain seems to have perished from its fragility, and the extraordinarily large demands of the Imperial Palace had apparently in old days the same effect European demands are said to have now. When the Palace ordered a hundred thousand pairs of cups or vases—the Chinese always want pairs—naturally the Government factories were obliged to supplement the most expensive and rare colours by others less costly and more simple, whilst the highest order of artistic excellence had to give way to mechanical repetition. Modern collectors get the bulk of their specimens from the dispersion of articles furnished to meet such vast orders; and the Ming porcelain is naturally somewhat coarse in make, faulty in shape, and decorated with paintings which, though characterised by boldness of design, have usually been executed without much care.
瓷器——青銅器——銀器——繪畫——建築——茶葉——絲綢——白蠟——苧麻布——象牙扇——刺繡
即使我具備足夠的知識，也無法在一章中全面討論中國的瓷器，但一些信息對普通讀者來說可能是新的。朱利安（Julien）的理論認為瓷器在公元前185年至公元87年間首次製作，但這一說法被現代古代中國瓷器最權威的專家赫爾斯博士（Dr. Hirth）所推翻。後者認為瓷器首次出現在唐朝（持續至公元907年），但目前無法找到宋朝（1259年結束）之前的瓷器樣本，即使是宋朝的瓷器，絕大多數也是所謂的“青瓷”，這些瓷器由於其厚度和堅固性而保存至今。這些青瓷的主要顏色是綠色，像玉石的顏色；而黃色被提及為其中一種用於製造這種顏色的成分。它們大多在浙江省西南部製作，然後經由河流運至廈門水域，再由阿拉伯商人分銷至日本、婆羅洲、蘇門答臘、亞洲西部和非洲東海岸，奇妙的是，在非洲東海岸發現了大量這樣的瓷器。這些瓷器在景德鎮——中國的主要瓷器生產地以及日本被大量仿製，但收藏家應該能夠輕易區分這些真品，因為它們極為堅硬。
最可靠的中國瓷器指南是項子清，他在莎士比亞創作早期詩歌時正在收集和編目這些瓷器，其豐富的圖解目錄已經被翻譯。最精美的中國瓷器由於其脆弱性已經消失，而皇宮的巨大需求似乎在古代產生了與現在歐洲需求相同的效果。當皇宮訂購十萬對杯子或花瓶時——中國人總是需要成對的——政府工廠自然不得不使用較便宜和更簡單的顏色來補充最昂貴和稀有的顏色，而最高水平的藝術品質也不得不讓位於機械重複。現代收藏家從這些滿足龐大訂單的物品散佚中獲得了大部分樣品；明朝瓷器由於製作粗糙，形狀不佳，裝飾的畫作雖然設計大膽，但通常缺乏精心製作而變得較為粗糙。
The ancient bronzes of China only became an object of interest to Chinese collectors about eight centuries ago. From that date on great attention has been paid to the inscriptions upon ancient vases, and it is very 427difficult to deceive Chinese archæologists, from their thorough knowledge of their own past history. A vase dating from the Chow Dynasty, and preserved at Silver Island near Chinkiang, has attracted especial attention. A former Viceroy of Kwangtung, Yuen-yuen, writing at the beginning of this century, describes his visit to Silver Island to see this vase. He examined it critically, and described it minutely in his four-volume archæological collection. He studied its colour, shape, and dimensions, and especially the inscriptions of forty characters. He was himself a scholar of the highest attainments, and his judgment in regard to the epoch to which this valuable relic of former ages belongs has been accepted and endorsed by succeeding scholars. The vase was much coveted by the notorious Yen-sung, an unprincipled statesman, who made great efforts to add it to his private collection in Peking in the Ming Dynasty. Yuen-yuen refers to these abortive designs, because, Yen-sung being a good judge of all relics of old times, this is an additional testimony to the genuine antiquity of the vase, and it indicates the deep interest felt in it by the archæologists of the Ming Dynasty. Beside the descriptions of it in the ordinary works which give details on bells and vases generally, monographs have been published on this particular vase showing that the best-informed native scholars are at one in the regard felt for it as genuine.
Twenty years ago the Chin Shih So was published, and this work with its profuse illustrations helped to spread the knowledge both of the new-found Han 428Dynasty sculptures and of the earlier bronze vessels. Rich men and scholars became sensible of the great pleasure to be derived from archæological research. And this has become a real feature of modern Chinese life. Men of means and leisure visit all celebrated monuments to study them for themselves, and take back with them rubbings to preserve at home. The large demand that there is in China for rubbings of ancient inscriptions is very remarkable. The bells and vases have now, like the stone drums, after much cautious inquiry and no little collision of opinion, secured a place stronger than ever in the judgment of the well informed in the Chinese reading class.
"It was about A.D. 166 that a king of Rome sent an embassy which arrived from the borders of Annam, bringing tribute of ivory, rhinoceros-horn, and tortoise-shell. From that time began the direct intercourse with that country. The fact that no jewels were found among the articles of tribute must be accounted for by the supposition that the ambassadors retained them for themselves." In the following century, the third, Western traders resorted to Canton; so that it appears the Cantonese have been afflicted by the presence of barbarians for no less than sixteen hundred years. Possibly this explains how the Mæander pattern on old Chinese bronzes so resembles the Greek "key" pattern, and why the lions' heads at the approach to the tomb of the first Ming Emperor at Nanking have rings in their mouths, thus exactly resembling the lions' heads so often to be seen on the mahogany cellarettes of our grandfathers, 429possibly also why the Chinese Buddhist ritual and that of Roman Catholics are so strikingly similar.
即使我具備足夠的知識，也無法在一章中全面討論中國的瓷器，但一些信息對普通讀者來說可能是新的。朱利安（Julien）的理論認為瓷器在公元前185年至公元87年間首次製作，但這一說法被現代古代中國瓷器最權威的專家赫爾斯博士（Dr. Hirth）所推翻。後者認為瓷器首次出現在唐朝（持續至公元907年），但目前無法找到宋朝（1259年結束）之前的瓷器樣本，即使是宋朝的瓷器，絕大多數也是所謂的“青瓷”，這些瓷器由於其厚度和堅固性而保存至今。這些青瓷的主要顏色是綠色，像玉石的顏色；而黃色被提及為其中一種用於製造這種顏色的成分。它們大多在浙江省西南部製作，然後經由河流運至廈門水域，再由阿拉伯商人分銷至日本、婆羅洲、蘇門答臘、亞洲西部和非洲東海岸，奇妙的是，在非洲東海岸發現了大量這樣的瓷器。這些瓷器在景德鎮——中國的主要瓷器生產地以及日本被大量仿製，但收藏家應該能夠輕易區分這些真品，因為它們極為堅硬。
最可靠的中國瓷器指南是項子京，他在莎士比亞創作早期詩歌時正在收集和編目這些瓷器，其豐富的圖解目錄已經被翻譯。最精美的中國瓷器由於其脆弱性已經消失，而皇宮的巨大需求似乎在古代產生了與現在歐洲需求相同的效果。當皇宮訂購十萬對杯子或花瓶時——中國人總是需要成對的——政府工廠自然不得不使用較便宜和更簡單的顏色來補充最昂貴和稀有的顏色，而最高水平的藝術品質也不得不讓位於機械重複。現代收藏家從這些滿足龐大訂單的物品散佚中獲得了大部分樣品；明朝瓷器由於製作粗糙，形狀不佳，裝飾的畫作雖然設計大膽，但通常缺乏精心製作而變得較為粗糙。
大約八個世紀前，中國古代青銅器才開始引起中國收藏家的興趣。從那時起，古代花瓶上的銘文受到了極大的關注，中國考古學家對自己的歷史有深入了解，因此很難欺騙他們。位於鎮江附近的銀島上保存的一個周代花瓶引起了特別的關注。廣東前任總督袁韻（Yuen-yuen）在本世紀初寫道，描述了他參觀銀島看這個花瓶的經歷。他詳細審查了花瓶，並在他的四卷考古集書中詳細描述了其顏色、形狀和尺寸，特別是四十個字符的銘文。他本人是一位學識淵博的學者，他對這個貴重遺物所屬時代的判斷已被後來的學者接受和認可。這個花瓶曾被臭名昭著的嚴嵩（Yen-sung）垂涎，這位不道德的政治家在明朝期間曾努力將其納入自己的北京私人收藏。袁韻提到了這些未遂的設計，因為嚴嵩作為一名古代遺物的好鑒定家，這是對花瓶真實古老性的額外證明，並表明明代考古學家對其的深厚興趣。除了在通常的鐘鼓和花瓶詳細描述的作品中有其描述外，還有專門針對這個特定花瓶的專著，表明最知名的本土學者在對其真實性方面持相同看法。
二十年前出版的《金石所》幫助普及了漢代新發現的雕塑和早期青銅器的知識。富人和學者逐漸意識到考古研究帶來的巨大樂趣，這成為現代中國生活的一個真實特徵。富有和閒暇的人士參觀所有著名的紀念碑，親自學習，並帶回家保存的拓片。中國對古代銘文拓片的需求非常顯著。鐘鼓和花瓶現在，像石鼓一樣，在經過謹慎的查詢和不少意見碰撞後，在中國知識階層中取得了前所未有的穩固地位。
“大約在公元166年，一位羅馬國王派遣了一個使團，從安南邊境抵達，帶來象牙、犀牛角和玳瑁的貢品。從那時起，與那個國家的直接交流開始了。事實上，貢品中沒有發現珠寶，必須解釋為使節們自己保留了它們。”在接下來的世紀，即第三世紀，西方商人開始前往廣州；所以看來廣州人已經忍受了野蠻人的存在長達1600年之久。這可能解釋了為什麼中國古代青銅器上的迷宮圖案如此類似於希臘的“鑰匙”圖案，以及為什麼南京第一位明朝皇帝陵墓入口處的獅子頭口中有環，這恰恰與我們祖父母時代的紅木酒箱上的獅子頭相似，也可能解釋了為什麼中國佛教儀式與羅馬天主教儀式如此驚人地相似。