Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 61 (Color Image)

0061	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

SIAN 31

of the city. One hundred and forty-seven steps

lead up to the sixth story, from whence there is a

good view.

In the north-west corner of the city there is

a rock called Tai - fei - shih (concubine stone), 15

feet high. It is supposed to have the prints of

the hand and feet of Yang (a concubine of one of

t the T'ang emperors) on the back. As visitors for

ages have put their hands into the cavity marked

i by the Emperor, the imprint is very clear. The

supposed footprints are much bigger.

f Mr. Su Kuei-san, the great art collector of Sian,

showed Pereira some of his treasures. He was a

Mohammedan, sixty - five years of age. By an

unprecedented stroke of luck he had acquired five

vases of the Emperor Ts'ai Shih-ching, A.D. 954

to 959, in whose reign there were five great official

potteries, which were broken up at his death. The

first, the Ts'ai pottery, is represented by a short

bowl with a wonderful glaze, which to the collector

is the most valuable. The second, the Wu pottery,

is represented by a yellow vase with rude repre-

sentation of a phoenix and dragon. The third,

the Kuan, is a taller bowl than the Ts'ai, and also

has a wonderful glaze. The fourth, the Ko, is a

white glazed vase of the finest workmanship. On

it three sheep and an old shepherd stand out ;

and there are rocks and a most wonderfully

delicate representation of wistaria and a vine.

The fifth, of the Ting pottery, is an amphora with

handlé.

Some of these vases had only been recently dug

up, and luckily none had been damaged. They

had been secured by Mr. Newman at ridiculously

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