Hall marks on Ming porcelain are rare. There is, however, one which occurs fairly often on late Ming porcelains of various kinds, including pieces decorated in blue and blue and white, underglaze red, blue and enamel colours, pierced designs and slip. This is [Chinese] _yü t´ang chia ch´i_, "beautiful vessel for the Jade Hall." It is improbable that the _yü t´ang_ was a factory name, as the specimens so marked have little homogeneity. Giles's Dictionary tells us that _yü t´ang_ is a name for the Han Lin College at Peking, which was so called in memory of Chou Chih-lin of the Sung dynasty, upon whom the Emperor bestowed these two characters in admiration of his qualities. From this we might infer that the wares so marked were made for the Han Lin; but why, one asks, in that case should the examples in our collections be so many and so evidently of the same period? On the whole I prefer to regard the mark as of general (and complimentary) significance, i.e. "beautiful vessel for the home of pure worth," like another mark much affected on late Ming porcelain _fu kuei chia ch´i_ ("fine vessel for the rich and honourable!"). Hall marks are very frequent on the porcelains of the Ch´ing dynasty, and enough are given below to illustrate their various forms. Many of them are no doubt hall names of makers and decorators, and as such belong to the category of artists' signatures. Special interest attaches to those hall marks which have been identified as referring to pavilions in the precincts of the Imperial palace. We are told by Bushell[454] that the "fashion of inscribing upon porcelain made for the Imperial palace the name of the particular pavilion for which it was intended seems to have begun in the reign of Yung Chêng," and observation shows that these hall marks only become frequent on the later porcelains. In fact most of the examples with which I am acquainted are nearer in style to the Tao Kuang than to the Yung Chêng wares, and the majority of the hall marks written in red on the glaze will be found to be of early nineteenth century date. HALL MARKS [Illustration: [Chinese] _Yü t´ang chia ch´i_ = fine vessel for the jade hall (late Ming).] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Yü hai t´ang chih_ = made for the Yü-hai (jade sea) hall (about 1700).] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Ts´ai hua t´ang chih_ = made for the hall of bright painting (nineteenth century).] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Ts´ai jun t´ang chih_ = made for the hall of bright colours (nineteenth century).] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Nan hsiang t´ang_ = south aspect hall (on eighteenth century pottery).] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Chih lan chai chih_ = made for the epidendrum hall (seventeenth century).] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Ku yüeh hsüan chih_ = made by Ku-yüeh-hsüan. (See Vol. ii., p. 215.)] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Yu ch´ai_ = quiet pavilion--a studio name of a painter.] [Illustration: [Chinese] _Wan shih chü_ = myriad rocks retreat; studio name of a painter.]