CHINA
highly prized there. But inasmuch as, in the case of every specimen reasonably identifiable as keramic, there is no talk of any decoration other than that applied to the metal mountings, it may also be concluded—and the conclusion is in strict accord with the researches set forth in previous chapters—that the art of decorating keramic pieces, with colours, either under or over the glaze, was still in its infancy at the middle of the fourteenth century.
It is not till the beginning of the sixteenth century that there is found in Europe a specimen of Chinese ware, as the nature of which nothing is left to conjecture. In 1505, Philip of Austria, being driven by stress of weather to Weymouth, became the guest of the sheriff, Sir Thomas Trenchard, and in return for this hospitality presented to Sir Thomas some bowls of porcelain. These bowls are still preserved by the Trenchard family. They are white porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze. The manufacture of blue-and-white ware in China had reached a point of high excellence fully eighty years before this date, so that King Philip's keramic specimens are precisely what they might have been expected to be. To about the same time, or a little later, belongs the céladon bowl of Archbishop Warham, previously alluded to, and in 1508 it is recorded that the Portuguese, having brought a number of keramic specimens from China and sold them at a handsome profit, renewed their voyage, reaching Canton in 1517. Thenceforth the supply of Chinese porcelain was doubtless more abundant, though the ware continued to be highly esteemed and to command large prices.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the
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