Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... Part IK DESCRIPTIVE. CLASS I.--PORCELAIN NOT PAINTED. Section A.--Plain White. THERE are some collectors who make a specialty of white porcelain, and a very interesting study it is. In the first place, it is the foundation of all porcelain. The first ware which, according to European notions, could properly be called porcelain, that is, highly vitrified and translucid, must have been white, or something approaching to it. There may be, as has been seen, some doubt as to certain old, unbroken coloured pieces, whether they are true porcelain or not, but the doubt cannot occur with uncoloured pieces. The green ware like glass made by Ho-chou, and the ware like jade produced by T'ao Yu, under the Sui Dynasty, may or may not have been porcelain, and the same doubt exists with regard to many of the so-called porcelains of the T'ang Dynasty, but if the description of the T'ang ware called Shu-yao is correct, viz. snow-white in colour with a clear ring, there is very little doubt that it was true porcelain. Porcelain can be artificially coloured throughout its substance (like the pieces made by Messrs. Minton for Solon's decoration in pdte-mvr-pdte), but there is no record of any interference in China with the colour of the body. For practical purposes it may therefore be assumed that all Chinese porcelain is "white" of more or less purity, and it would naturally be the desire of the potter that all the undecorated ware should be as purely white as possible. E White porcelain not meant to be decorated in colours is of two classes, glazed and unglazed. The unglazed, called biscuit, is comparatively rare, and is often carved and perforated in a very elaborate manner. In the Franks collection is a pair of cups (No. 26a) on the outside of which are...
