Analyze the role of "had the Chinese not come" in this sentence?

Question

What is the role of **had the Chinese not come** in this sentence? What is the relationship of the second half of this sentence to the first?>The significance of decorations on Chinese pottery may have remained clear **had the Chinese not come** under foreign influence.

Answer 1

"had the Chinese not come under foreign influence" is a conditional clause, synonymous with "If the Chinese had not come under foreign influence." The first half of the sentence describes the result of the condition. You could rewrite the sentence to read, "If the Chinese had not come under foreign influence, the significance on Chinese pottery may have remained clear."

An example of a similar conditional sentence would be, "If I had stayed out late yesterday, I may have overslept this morning" (or, alternatively, "I may have overslept this morning had I stayed out late yesterday").

Answer 2

"had the Chinese not come" is equal to "if the Chinese had not come". That is, it's a dependent clause, an adverb clause of condition (like all IF clauses). It shows the condition of the significance of decorations remaining clear.