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D. J. FINN, S.J.
The vases were acquired by purchase from the man who some time ago had dug them up near Tung Koon, the well-known town (famous for fire-crackers) on the deltaic land between the East River and the estuary of the Canton (Pearl) River. Tung Koon lies about five miles west of Shek Lung and is sixty miles slightly west of north from Lamma, it has been ever since the Sung times at least a place of importance (the name means Eastern Reeds or Eastern Reed-mat and occurs elsewhere in China and even seems to have been used of another site nearer to Nam Tao).
CL
If ever vases had guarantees of genuineness, these have. They cor- respond accurately with all the characteristics which we have set forth above on the basis of sherds dug up out of the sand. The neck and collar are the points in which each differs from what has been taken as typical above. Pl. 34, figure 1, has a short neck set perfectly straight, as against the usual angle illustrated in the drawings, fiure 7, c and d. Pl. 34, figure 3 has no collar at all whereas Pl. 33, figure 2, shows traces of the usual neck.
To save time and space, the description is set out in catalogue fashion. General: colour (exterior), black except for circular area of brownish red on bottom with boundary of yellowish grey which in part is vitrified (corresponding to position of a second vessel in kiln this area is about the same as that of the vessel's own mouth): (interior) grey: hard stone-ware of metallic appearance and ringing sound; blobs of fusing ferruginous sub- stance come through to surface here and there: sits lop-sided on bottom: no regular base (cp. notes on figure 7, a).
Dimension: Height (external) 101⁄2 ins. (internal) 104 ins.: greatest breadth, 13 ins. : vertical height to band of ornament, 634 ins.: lugs, distant from lip, as measured along curve, 2 ins.: breadth of mouth 53% ins.: Height of neck, (outside) 1⁄2 in., (inside) 7/8in.
Pattern. Double-F type based on central groove type but merging from hi to 1.h.ii. Probably carly in series. Touching arms.
Lugs; well made bronze type of stirrup form (as fragment 38). Mark, exceptional in that maker's (?) mark occurs on outside (usually inside the neck-collar); three upright lines in mountain or pyramid form; same as mark on a cup of "glazed type "in Professor Shellshcar's collection.
Interior; chevron band where neck attached: apparently this is
a productive factor in bevelled edge of lip, the inner layer producing a bevel where it stops short of the edge of an outer layer.
Down to a vertical distance of about 2 inches, the interior of the shoulder is splashed with crystalline patches of a yellowish brown all around; this is very hard and resists detachment unless with considerable force, yet is soluble; not a glaze but is probably owing to evaporation and crystalization of some liquid (sugar or brine?) in the vase.
The second small pot; Plate 34, 3: of the same type as Pl. 33, 2. Differs by absence of neck, but probably all this kind of pots should make a separate class.
General: colour, white, slightly grey: very hard and heavy, thick ware almost indestructible: bottom with kiln area mark; base fairly level;
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
:
Archaeological Finds on Lamma Island
245
ware throughout shows fused blobs and rings (perhaps owing to iron- content) carefully smoothed mouth; no neck or collar.
:
Dimensions; external height, 3 ins.: greatest breadth, 45% ins.; width across mouth 3 ins.
Decoration; wheel marks which on one face are oblique except the lowest one, on the other face they are nearer to parallels, but in each case they seem to have been placed in some definite relation to the lugs.
Interior; under mouth-opening, for about 11⁄2 in., the inner surface is all blackened as if by fire, suggesting use as a lamp (which may explain absence of neck); towards lower part distinct join of upper and lower sections as usual in this type.
The first of these two vases is the only complete specimen of its type that has yet been recognized: we hope that this publication may bring others to light. It is an impressive vase which completely succeeds in a bronze-ware effect.
A vase of the same pattern as fragment 16 if thus complete would be a splendid piece of ware. The link of this vase with the glazed cups is of considerable interest, for the particular specimen bearing the same trade- mark seems to have been prepared for glazing but never finished-and thus may have been something local to Lamma.
This opportunity allows the addition of some article as the result of the most recent observations.
notes to the whole
(1) The site extends south of the big tree. (2) A piece of Double-F unearthed there at 40 ins. shows
(a) a trade-mark connecting it with 1.f (zig-zag pattern; an-
other piece of Double-F has similar mark).
(b)
an exterior surface coated with some material which has
left a creamy yellow surface overlying a substratum in places an ochre-red, in places a rusty black; like the paste of the pot itself, this coating (or slip) is so rich in iron that the magnet gathers up most of the powder got by scraping off the slip; at places there is still a shine which at first suggests a glaze. The total effect is still that of embossed metal as the slip softens down the sharp F lines; originally probably this technique took a high polish which we shall find later on to be characteristic of other wares seemingly older. It is noteworthy that much iron is visible in the sand of the Lamma beach and on one occasion a very heavy lump of fired sand was found with marked layers of iron particles.
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(3) A piece of the same type, but not of the same pot, as fragment 12 has been found at 49 ins., i.e, lower than the above piece of Double-F in the same place.
(4) As to the important relation of figure 3 to fragment 16 and Plate 33, 3 and 4 with figure 2 A and C
December 1932,
(a) it should be noted that the upper element in figure 2 in C and A is not correctly interpreted the error is due to
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Private notes are available after approval.