Early Chinese Glass from Pre-Han to Tang Times

Abstract

IN a previous letter¹, Beck and Seligman described the analysis of a large ornamental glass ” eye-bead” from the Han Chün graves near old Lo Yang, dating back to the second half of the third century B.C. or perhaps even earlier. This bead had the surprisingly high specific gravity of 3.57, and proved to be essentially a lead-barium silicate, with small amounts of soda, lime, alumina, etc. Prompted by this unexpected result, we have now extended our examination to a series of thirty-two specimens of Chinese glass, covering some twelve centuries, pre-Han and Han (c. 250 B.C., or earlier–A.D. 220) and T'ang (A.D. 618–907). Within these broad limits, there is little reasonable doubt as to the correct dating of the pre-Han and Han specimens. It is more difficult to be certain of the T'ang; perhaps all the specimens so attributed may be of this period, and some certainly are. As most of the specimens were of considerable value, only minute samples could be removed for analysis. The work was carried out spectrographically, and though accurately qualitative, no attempt was made to place it on more than an approximately quantitative basis.