Page 169 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

T A N D I N G ON A S P L A Y E D CIRCULAR F O O T R I N G , this small, unas-
suming vase has an almost spherical body topped by an elongated
S cylindrical neck with lightly flaring mouth. The decorative scheme
features a branch of blossoming plum intertwined with a flowering tree
peony, the tree peony growing beside a rock to suggest a garden setting.
Presented against a ring-punched ground, the decorative motifs spread
over the entire vessel, without the constraint of formal borders, except
the narrow, unembellished lip that echoes the plain footring. The underside
of the vase is undecorated, as is the interior. A medium brown coating,
visible especially in the hollows of the leaves and flowers, softens the brassy
tone of the metal.
Perhaps a flower vase, this elegant vessel finds its ancestors among
the similarly shaped ones produced in celadon-glazed stoneware during
1
the Song dynasty by the Yaozhou and guan kilns, among others. Inspired by
the baoping vessels, the so-called ambrosia bottles that were popular in
silver, 2 bronze, 3 and ceramic ware 4 during the Sui and Tang dynasties, such
organically shaped vases were eclipsed by the pear-shaped yuhuchun ping
bottles that appeared in the fourteenth century and commanded favor dur-
ing the late Yuan and early Ming periods in silver, 5 porcelain, 6 and stone-
ware. 7 Spherical bodied vases enjoyed a revival in the eighteenth century
in both monochrome-glazed porcelain and bronze, however, along with a
number of other Song shapes.
As decoration, this vase presents the two flowers more popular than
any others in traditional China, the tree peony (mudan hua) and the wild
flowering plum (me/ hua). Blooming in the third month of the Chinese
lunar calendar, the tree peony symbolizes spring; due to its numerous
petals, it also represents an auspicious wish to the viewer for wealth [see
discussion, 27]. Because the wild plum blooms during the first month of
the Chinese year, it stands for winter, and, by extension, for the promise
of spring to follow; seeing virtue in its ability to bloom while snow covers
its branches, Confucians claim the plum as a symbol of strength in the
face of adversity. Others see the delicate blossoms as an emblem of
feminine beauty and the rough bark as an emblem of the humble scholar
[see discussion, 28].
Depicted in painting and the decorative arts since Tang and Song
times, the peony and the plum figure prominently in the decorative arts of
the Ming and Qing. In Ming ceramics, flowers of various types are seldom
intertwined, though they are often paired with bamboo and occasionally
with a pine and rock; when different flowers are presented together, each

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