Chinese Porcelains, Snuff Bottles And Lacquers

ALTHOUGH in the other sections of the Hand-book to the Altman Collection the objects in the different rooms are noted in the order in which they are placed, the arrangement of the Chinese porcelains in GALLERIES 3 and 4 has been necessarily governed by the character of the exhibits, which are grouped more with regard to color and effect than to the historical sequence of the pieces. As it is impossible to give a clear idea of such porcelains without considering the chronological development of the art, it has been thought best in the account of these two galleries to disregard the arrangement of the material and to treat the contents of both rooms from the historical standpoint and as one undivided collection. Consequently, instead of leading the visitor in an uninterrupted progression about each gallery in turn, he is referred to different varieties of material and to individual objects in their chronological order by a system of case letters and catalogue numbers. The lettering of cases, which is repeated in each room, begins at the visitor's right as he enters the gallery and is applied first to the wall cases and then to those on the floor. Numbers are given only to those pieces which receive special mention in the text.