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Plate 8.12 Detail of vessels on the table with cover from
Amusements in the Four Seasons (Siji shangwan tu 四季賞玩圖),
c. 1426–84, Beijing. Handscroll, ink and colours on silk, height
35cm, width 780cm. Private collection

If we go back to the imperial court, a detail from the
scroll painting of Amusements in the Four Seasons shows the
emperor watching a group of eunuchs gathering lotus
flowers from a boat in a palace lake, with refreshments of
wine and food kept ready behind a screen (Pl. 8.12). Again,
all of the vessels used to hold the wine and food are gold;
there is no blue-and-white. Gold wine jars are shown and a
Plate 8.11 Detail of palace women serving drinks in gold vessels large serving dish filled with peaches is either white ware or
from Amusements in the Four Seasons (Siji shangwan tu 四季賞玩
圖), c. 1426–84, Beijing. Handscroll, ink and colours on silk, height more probably gold, but it is certainly not blue-and-white
35cm, width 780cm. Private collection porcelain, even though these shapes existed in that material.
The dish covers shown in this detail are a reminder of the
from blue-and-white wine vessels. In other words, the court imperfect impression that we have from the materials that
artist had the skill to represent blue-and-white, and the have been handed down to us. Although the early Ming
vessels existed at the time. They are absent from this picture gives us more information than earlier eras, we are still
because they were not for the emperor’s own use and without so much of the organic and fragile material which
therefore not required on his personal drinks table. would provide a more complete picture.
This painting is not unique, and if we look at another The third observation offered here relates to how
three handscrolls depicting palace amusements we see the blue-and-white porcelain was used. It is not the case that the
same situation. Drinking and eating vessels for the emperor’s emperors did not have blue-and-white in the palace – quite
own use are depicted in a detail showing palace women the reverse. However, it is here proposed that they neither
serving drinks (Pl. 8.11), but again the vessels shown are drank nor ate from blue-and-white, but instead ordered it for
gold and not blue-and-white. The stem cup with cover and their vast households and for enormous banquets they held.
stand could have been painted in blue-and-white. Plenty of Reading descriptions of the tribute missions or the
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blue-and-white examples of this form survive. Two blue-and- orchestrated rituals, one is overwhelmed by a sense of the
white stem cups were excavated at the tomb of Prince sheer number of people who would have needed official
Zhuang of Liang, one with a dragon and one with a scene of hospitality. This then makes sense when we read about the
court ladies. So we can see that blue-and-white porcelain is vast orders completed by the kilns in Jingdezhen.
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suitable for a princely court, but not for the emperor himself. From details in these imperial amusement paintings, we
In place of blue-and-white the emperor is served either with can see blue-and-white porcelain being used for garden
gold or perhaps even with a ‘sweet white’ glazed stem cup. furnishings such as barrel seats and flower pots (Pl. 8.13).
Other blue-and-white vessels in the tomb of Prince Blue-and-white flower pots of the early Ming have been
Zhuang of Liang are not for the personal use of the prince excavated (Pl. 8.14); they must have been used to decorate
but for storage, as is evidenced by four large blue-and-white the palace in the same way as Jun ware flower pots.
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jars. The other stem cups in the tomb were white wares Blue-and-white porcelain overall played an important role
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with dragons, originally gilded, whose designs were free in decorating the new palace in Beijing, both in its interiors
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from glaze and so fired orangey-red. The jue 爵cups on the and its gardens. Dozens of large tanks for rearing fish and
silver tray from the same tomb could well have been made in water plants would have been positioned inside and outside
porcelain. Both white and blue-and-white versions exist in in the Forbidden City, although few survive today. Even
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heirloom collections and have been excavated, but here the smallest palace environment had blue-and-white,
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higher status materials – silver and gold – are used instead. including tiny bird feeders for water and hemp seeds or
Clearly, ritual vessels were governed by sumptuary laws. cricket cages. 41

82 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450