At the New Year, 1587-88, Elizabeth received from Burleigh a porringer ‘of white porselyn’ garnished with gold, and from Mr. Robert Cecil ‘a cup of grene pursselyne.’ It was not until the beginning of the next century, apparently, that porcelain, decorated with blue under the glaze, was imported in any quantity. To this time we must assign the four pieces of this ‘blue and white’ ware (one bearing the mark of Wan-li) (PL. XXVIII.) long preserved at Burleigh House, the old home of the senior branch of the Cecil family (see p. 85). By the middle of the seventeenth century Oriental porcelain had already become an important article of commerce. At that time by far the larger quantity was imported by the Dutch, and was distributed by them over France and Germany. There is, however, some reason to believe that the Portuguese continued to import certain classes of ware, but it is difficult to [Illustration: _PLATE XXVIII._ CHINESE] find any direct evidence of this commerce.[137] As for the English trade, porcelain is mentioned among the goods imported by the East India Company as early as 1631. For the most part this porcelain exported from Canton or from Nagasaki was not carried directly to Europe, but found its way first to various intermediate _entrepôts_ of trade: in the case of the Dutch, to Batavia; with us, to certain Indian ports, or perhaps to Gombroon. This was one cause of the strange names by which the products of China and Japan were known, and of the confusion between the wares of the two countries, which has only been cleared up of late years. We hear of Batavian porcelain, and of East Indian or _porcelaine des Indes_.[138] No doubt this ambiguity of origin was encouraged by the rival traders, who were not eager to make too public the source of their goods.