International studio (60.1916/1917)

Chinese Ceramic Collections in Museums

pottery began to reach the collectors or museums
of the Western world, and then their isolated ap-
parition (among the more or less objects of com-
merce) staggered the amateurs by their transcen-
dant beauty and perfection. Such examples very
promptly excited the cupidity of our connoisseurs,
while the other products caused but languid cur-
iosity and, in fact, led to some wrong impressions
concerning Oriental cera¬
mics as a whole, among
even an art-loving public.
Meanwhile, thanks to
the more ardent re¬
searches of the sinolo¬
gists and amateurs of
the Western world, facts
have been sifted from
fancy and the mooted
points in the early his¬
tory of this art advanced
to a surer basis, as we
may now note that an¬
cient examples of assured
provenancehaveacquired
an importance in the
Western collections they
had not possessed before.
The great Morgan col-
lection of porcelains,
since it changed owner¬
ship, and its removal
from the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New
York, has already en-
riched several notable
private and museum pos-
sessions in other cities.
Among the latter the
University Museum in
Philadelphia has now on view over three hundred
examples from this collection alone. This mu-
seum has installed a most remarkable presentation
of Far and Near Eastern art, where, aside from
Persian potteries and textiles, and the Morgan
porcelains, are shown early Chinese pottery, stone
sculpture, paintings, ancient bronzes, cloisonne
enamels, and jade carvings; it may be said that
never before have Chinese porcelains received
such a resplendent setting. It should be men-
tioned that the objects are all shown in the new
Charles Eustis Harrison Hall, a domed wing of
the University Museum, which was only lately

completed and opened to the public. Here varied
groups of Morgan porcelains are arranged in the
original Morgan showcases and placed under the
best conditions of light for inspection, classified
according to coloured decoration and periods.
Whilst the Morgan collection was doubtless famil-
iar to many Philadelphians, yet the display has
surprised and pleased many visitors to the Uni-
versity Museum in West
Philadelphia, so it may
be justly said that these
objects are now receiving
considerable attention
and study amid their
new surroundings.
The feature of having
a museum handy for stu-
dents, whether of the
applied arts, architecture
or other sciences, is a
most desirable one; it
saves the student time in
travelling miles to dis-
tant or outlying park
museums in their search
for necessary documents,
art forms, or other data.
All museums do render
great service to the pub-
lic, often more than is
realized, so it can be said
that such as are special-
ized and situated close to
the seats of learning,
show a decidedly new era
and progress in museum
work, and one that will
be more keenly consid-
ered in the near future.
In our consideration of Chinese ceramics, as rep-
resented in the several museums, we must not lose
sight of the fact that the potter’s art has ever been
referred to in native records, dating back for many
centuries to Chinese culture, and that, aside from
literature, such objects of clay present an equal
source with stone sculpture and bronzes for our
acquaintance with the early history and develop-
ment of those ancient people of the Far East
whom we term Chinese. A few of the noteworthy
examples from the Morgan Collection are illus-
trated, by permission of the University Museum.
Cut No. i presents a group of three eggshell


no. 4

LXXII