Morning journal and courier., 1893-04-27

m. @. Rousiers In the Revue des Revnesl
The Chinese are perfectly satisfied that
their civilization is more than thirty thou
sand years old, and that, consequently,
their art fourished and had reached It's
height when our ancestors were still COM
panions of the bears In cAverns. This is
no longer discussed; IL is dogma In which
every self-reepecting Chinaman believes
with an immoyable faith. Moreover, some
historians have taken the pains to furnish
proofs perfectly convincing. Thus the au-
thor of 3 remarkable book, "Senki, pub.
fishes a chronological table of the sove-
reigns who have been in power during
these myriads of years. Soeptics have
only to verify these data provided In SO
generous q manner by the llustrious his
torian of the Celestial empire. 1t is easy
ts understand that it Is almost impossible,
under these circumstances, to discover the
true origin of Chinese art. II. G. BsuI,
who has lived in those quarters for long
time, has, however, endesyored to throw
some light on this very interesting ques
ton. The attempt Is the more meritori-
ous "a, with the exception of the work of
NJ Paleoiogue, Chinese art has never been
the object of special study. Thanks to
the iufatustion of II. de Goncourt, we
have been surfeited with Japanese art, but
it's origin remains entirely unknown
N. Bsux begins his study with the &C
cession of Wennming. the hrst accepted
ruler, and socially known ss the founder
of the dynasty of Hid C9205 B CT The
arts were already greatly advanced at that
epoch, when the emperor, Yon the Great,
"A -. e d
hard stone and placed on Mount Heng. and
the technic of bronze must have been al
ready quite well understood, since he or
dered the casting of the vases on which he
had had traced the description OF the nine
principslitiss which became tie fret divi-
sions of the Celestial empire. Music, too,
had go great plscs that the emperor con-
strueted with his own hands an Instrument
called kin" whose sounds, when he
played on Il, charmed psople from their
hearts. The art of cutting and engraving
stones was quite common, 60 that tall
buildings In memory of the gIest were
erected, and the casting of metals Was but
play in the hands of skilled workmen.
not have attained such q degree of perfec-
ton without having trsversed epochs of
successive transformations, and that, obey
ing the instinct common TO all racee, they
must have tried to initiate nature in knesd-
ing the clay which they found under their
feet. This is why think, with most of
the scholars whom / have consulted, that
their primitive art was that of pottery.
The moulded earth was dried In the sun
and finally baked In order to harden 1t.
Next they invented suitable tools with
which to work. Then they covered the
vases with drawings, representing scenes
Of life, memorable events, or else they
traced hieroglyphics, signs of good luck,
and finally they ornsmented their houses
and dedicated them to the most high. But
baked earth Is brittle, SO they began to use
wood or soft stone, or flint, which they
polished, or whitish agate, green jade ol
jasper, which they venersted because its
red surface is the color of the blood oi
their ancestors. In digging in the ground
to find richer veins of metal they discov-
cred the brilliant, shining metals which
charm the eyes.
Thus the Chinese found brass and tin,
lead and silver, combined with the other
metals so common In their country, and
they very easily made bronze by mixing
these in certain proportions In order to
produce vases for perfumery more besut-
full and less fragile than ordinary pottery.
I can thus understand how they gradually
It6Gucu TUG hEOHAtJSc Vi t1c heSaAAC Va
bronze, and why twenty-five hundred
years before our era, they were sufficiently
accustomed to this to cast brass vaccs on
which was engraved their contemporsneous
history. With regard to Jspaness art, the
wrltsr Is of the opinion that Ii is only q
copy of that of China. Even up to the
time of Ming (the fourteenth century, they
simply copied the pieees cold In China
Later, at the end of last century, they
changed their methods and inventsi new
decorations placed on idsnliesk foIns
Even japanese drawings, of which th'
boldness of style rendered by such simpl
means Is so much admired, ere but veal
| limitations of ancient Chinese aintipgs.