Chinese Pottery and Porcelain; Vol. 1. Pottery and Early Wares

R.L. Hobson's 1915 study stands as one of the first systematic Western attempts to chronicle the entirety of Chinese ceramic history. As Keeper of Ceramics at the British Museum, Hobson possessed unprecedented access to imperial collections and archaeological finds, reconstructing a narrative that had previously existed only in fragments. He traces pottery from its prehistoric origins through the Chou and Han dynasties, examining how religious belief, court patronage, and technical innovation shaped the potter's craft across millennia. The book acknowledges the gaps in knowledge that only later excavations would fill, yet it captures a remarkable moment when Western scholarship began to take Chinese material culture seriously on its own terms. For the modern reader, it offers not merely technical cataloguing but a window into how early experts understood aesthetics, craft tradition, and the slow accumulation of mastery that made Chinese pottery synonymous with excellence.