Page 172 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

HE THICK WALLS OF THIS HEAVY, ovoid vase rise almost vertically,
then curve inward at the top to form broad, angled shoulders; after
T constricting to shape the neck, they terminate in the rounded edges
of the gently flaring lip. Carefully arranged gold splashes in three sizes -
large, medium, and small - ornament the otherwise plain surfaces of the
exterior. Placed just far enough into the underside of the vessel to allow a
short footring and then affixed with solder, the separately prepared flat base
has at its center a carved reign mark of six relief characters in a slightly
sunken rectangular ground; gold splashes identical to those on the exterior
walls surround the mark. All interior and exterior surfaces display a warm
brown hue, artificially created, that conceals the brassy color of the bronze.
Because so many bronzes with gold-splashed decoration bear spurious
Xuande marks [see 35], this Kangxi-marked vase is important in establishing
the characteristics of the Kangxi style. Carved in bold standard-script (kaishu)
calligraphy, the well written mark on this vase corresponds in style to those
on genuine Kangxi ceramics and gives every indication of authenticity.
Said to imitate Tang sancai, or three-color, lead-glazed ware, 1 this
stately vase resembles in shape the so-called wannian guan, or myriad-year
2
jars, that were exceedingly popular in porcelain, stoneware, and lead-glazed
3
earthenware during the Tang. Taller than its model, this vase nevertheless
incorporates the Tang ovoid jar's flat base, broad shoulders, short neck,
organically flowing profile, and lightly flaring lip with rounded edge.
Although bronze horse trappings and ceremonial weapons were
sometimes inset with turquoise during the Shang dynasty and although
bronze vessels were frequently inlaid with gold, silver, malachite, and
turquoise during the Warring States and succeeding periods, abstract
splashes of gold were apparently first used as decoration only during the
Xuande reign of the early Ming. As Xuande-period craftsmen expanded the
range of decoration and surface color on their bronzes, they introduced
splashes of gold dispersed over the surface, the best ones said to have gold
the color of the peaches of immortality [see discussion, 15 and 16].
Though its exact origins remain unknown, this radically new style of
decoration might well have been inspired by the iron-brown splashes that
4
were occasionally applied to qingbai ware and to Longquan celadon ware 5
during the late Song and Yuan periods; since they drew heavily on Song
aristocratic ceramics for their shapes, Xuande bronzes could easily have
borrowed decorative elements from Song ceramics as well. 6 Used for
painting and calligraphy, fine paper enlivened with flecks of gold and

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