CHINESE BEAUTY OF COLOUR AND LINE - The Catalogue of
the George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porce!ain. By R. L. Hobson. (Volume II. Ernest Benn. £12 12s.) THE appearance of the successive volumes of Mr. Hobson's catalogue of the Eumorfopoulos collection of Oriental pottery is eagerly awaited by connoisseurs. The publication of this great work is indeed an event of importance in the annals of English book production, for the book is not only in itself a work of art which will stand comparison with the best that have been produced in any country, but also the last word on the subject from one who has a well-deserved reputation as the foremost authority in the world on Chinese ceramics.
The new volume perhaps shows less variety of content than the first, but it comprises a score of works of art in pottery of such beauty that they could not fail. to arrest attention. The author speaks of "refinement of colour and form" as the keynote of the pottery of the Sung period, and a glance through the plates of this volume, devoted to only a portion of the wares of that dynasty, is enough to prove the justness of his criticism.
The wares included are those grouped under the type head- ings of Ju, kuan, Ko, Lung-ch`iian and Chien ; the various Chun and Tz‘ii-chou wares are presumably reserved for the third volume of the catalogue. Mr. Hobson sounds a wise warning against over-hasty precision in geographical classi- fication; and this is characteristic of the admirable attitude of reserve and the honesty of outlook which make his work an honour to English scholarship.
When every reservation has been made, however, it is clear that progress is steadily being made in our knowledge of these early wares. Fifty years ago the names of Sung and Yiian, to say nothing of Han or T'ang, were virtually unknown to the many admirers and collectors of Chinese porcelain of the later dynasties. The mention of a Chiin porcelain bulb-bowl and the little woodcut with which it is illustrated in Fortune's Residence Among the Chinese (1857) is an isolated curiosity which it is interesting to find confirmed by recent discoveries. Only in 1883, so far as we know, did the first wanderers of Sung porcelain reach England in the shape of a few specimens of the Ting, Ko and Chfin types sent from Peking to the South Kensington . Museum. Not until the beginning of the present century did these early .wares appear in the West in any quantity, and even when Mr. Hobson, little more than ten years ago, published his first great work on Chinese pottery, he was able to speak with much less assurance than now he finds possible. The first group of wares in this new volume, illustrating the famous Ju porcelain, is a remarkable case in point. They are now hailed as being amongst the most beautiful of all known kinds of pottery, yet before the War they were of the greatest rarity and their true character passed altogether without recognition. Mr. Hobson has also done well to point Out the misc- oncep Lions that have arisen through the faulty translations from the Chinese in the Works of Dr. Bushell; to whom, however, as a pioneer of the study, the thanks of his
follosiers will always be due. .
These archaeological questions are of interest to the expert. and collector, but to the general reader it is the aesthetic Satisfaction to be derived from the illustrations -Which gives. to this book its chief attraction. We range with equal pleasure through the cool watery blues of the Ju, the stone greys of the Ko, the gorgeous hues. of the Kua.n or the solidly satisfying greens and browns of the celadon and Chien wares, Whilst at every turn of the page we find subtle beauties of shape, or unfaltering strength of line in carved or engraved decoration. It is, indeed matter of congratulation that such a collection as that of Mr. Eumorfopoulos should have found
a home in London. BERNARD BACKHAM.
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