Page 109 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

Song, it had become the most popular decorative motif on ceramic ware. 14
During the Xuande reign of the Ming dynasty, a lotus spray was featured
as the principal decorative motif on a series of large blue-and-white dishes;
their cut stalks tied with a ribbon, the bouquets include a bud, a blossom,
15
a seed pod, and a leaf, representing a complete cycle of life. The lotus bou-
quets on the early fifteenth-century blue-and-white porcelain dishes are
presumably the direct inspiration for the bouquets applied to the lobes of
the Clague censer, especially since early Ming porcelains were already highly
prized by the sixteenth century. In addition, secular artists of the sixteenth
century included the lotus among their depictions on paper and silk, as in
the brilliantly colored handscroll of lotuses by Chen Shun (1483-1544) in the
16
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, and such specialists in the art
of flower arranging as Zhang Chou (1577-1643?), the well known late Ming
collector/connoisseur/critic of Chinese painting, advocated its inclusion in
certain types of arrangements. 17
In typical mid- and late Ming fashion, the artist employed both casting
and cold-working techniques in creating this censer. The vessel was inte-
grally cast with its floral base, relief lobes, chrysanthemum collar, and short
neck. The lotus bouquets were cast separately and attached with rivets, the
rivets' flattened heads visible on the interior. Minor finishing details were
engraved after casting - the veins in the petals of the mallow blossom on
the base, for example, and the veins in the leaves, buds, and blossoms of
the lotus bouquets.

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