ABSTRACT
If, from the angle of their visual arts, we call the European countries calcareous countries, then China and Japan are siliceous countries. For, the two substances we feel to be most representative of far-eastern art, clay and jadeite, are both silicates. Limestone is between the hardness of jade and the softness of clay. This intermediate substance is the mean of European art. I t demands neither to be moulded like the clay, nor minutely whittled like the jade; but to be boldly carved.
