Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/34

 which had been lost. He succeeded in producing green stone-ware, for which some have claimed the distinction of having been the first céladon manufactured in China, though no reason is apparent for thus differentiating it from the faïence of the Wei dynasty. Beyond this meagre account, however, nothing is known of the nature or quality of this production.

Contemporaneous with Ho Chou, that is to say, living at the beginning of the seventh century, was an expert called Tao Yü, a name signifying "keramic jade," and therefore probably derived from the nature of the man's productions. For he succeeded in turning out stone-ware so closely resembling green jade—the Chinese beau-ideal of precious substances—that his pieces were distinguished as Chia-yü-ki, or vases of artificial jade. This man seems to have peddled his wares himself, from which fact an idea may, perhaps, be gathered of the insignificance of the industry in his time. His example nevertheless imparted such an impetus to the art that the district of Changnan, where he resided, became famous for its keramic wares. Chang-nan was known in later times as Ching-tê-chên, the great keramic capital of the Middle Kingdom. It had already acquired a name for such work. Some twenty-five years before Tao Yü's time, the first emperor of the Sui dynasty had ordered (583 ) the people of Chang-nan-chin to send him, by way of impost, vases of the products yao and tsu, that is to say keramic ware. It would therefore seem that the potters of Chang-nan-chin (afterwards Ching-tê-chên) had become sufficiently expert, at the close of the sixth century, to be distinguished by the receipt of an order from the Palace; that their first keramist of note (Tao Yü) flourished at the beginning