Page 243 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

13, number 164; Lady David, Illustrated Catalogue 8. See Garner, Chinese and Associated Lacquer,
of Ch'ing Enamelled Ware in the Percival David plate 29, number 61.
Foundation of Chinese Art, London: Percival David 9. See Claudia Brown, Chinese Cloisonne: The
Foundation of Chinese Art, University of London, Clague Collection, Phoenix AZ: Phoenix Art Museum,
1973 revised reprint of the 1958 edition, 29, number 1980, 52-53, number 18.
A803, plate 9, number A803. 10. See Wang Zhongshu, Han Civilization, 70, fig-
12. Bianfu, the two-syllable word used for 'bat' ure 76; Lucy Lim and others, Stories from China's
today, combines the syllable fu with bian, another Past: Han Dynasty Pictorial Tomb Reliefs and
one-syllable word meaning 'bat.' Through similar Archaeological Objects from Sichuan Province,
combinations of closely related terms, the majority People's Republic of China, San Francisco: Chinese
of nouns in modern spoken Mandarin have be- Culture Foundation of San Francisco, 1987, 86-87,
come bisyllabic, thereby decreasing unintentional plates 4, 5; 92-93, plate 9.
ambiguity of speech by decreasing the number of 11. The Buddha once spoke of the lotus, com-
homonyms. Fu, meaning 'good fortune', is some- menting that in the same way it could grow in
times combined with q/orze, yielding fuqi and fuze, sullied waters yet put forth blossoms of great
to distinguish it from yet other words with the beauty and purity he could live in this world yet
same basic pronunciation. Because Chinese char- propound teachings of great truth and profundity.
acters are ideographic, the written language does Thus, the lotus became one of the most important
not share the spoken language's problem of ambi- symbols of the Buddhist church.
guity resulting from an abundance of homonyms. 12. See Yutaka Mino and Katherine R. Tsiang, Ice
13. The all-over decoration of stylized bats sug- and Green Clouds: Traditions of Chinese Celadon,
gests that the current attribution to the sixteenth- Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1986, 91,
seventeenth century of a small, garlic-headed vase number 30; 94-98, numbers 32-34.
with Shisou mark in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 13. See-Fontein and Wu, Unearthing China's Past,
London, will require further study. See Kerr, Later 177, number 90 and figure 91; Jenyns and Watson,
Chinese Bronzes, 64-65, figure 50. The Victoria and Chinese Art: The Minor Arts, 59, number 21; 62-63,
Albert piece is of interest here, because it has number 25; Gyllensvard, Chinese Gold and Silver,
about its neck a series of three relief rings similar 145, number 93; 168, number 111; 192, number 124.
to those on the Clague vase. Separately cast, the 14. See Kuo, Born of Earth and Fire, 79, number
neck was inserted into the body of the Victoria 58; Mowry, Handbook, 64, number 1979.139; Mino
and Albert vase, supporting the suggestion above and Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds, 153, number 58;
that the Clague piece may have been prepared in 157, number 60.
two parts fitted together after casting. 15. See The Joint Board of Directors of The National
Palace Museum and the National Central Museum
19 compilers, B/ue-and-wh/te Ware of the Ming 2, Dynasty,
Kong:
2,
1962,
Hong
Company,
book
part
Cafa
1. See Percival David Foundation, Imperial Taste, 146-49, numbers 59-60. John Carswell, Blue and
37, figure 18; Terukazu Akiyama and others, Arts of White: Chinese Porcelain and Its Impact on the
China, volume 1: Neolithic Cultures to the Tang Western World, Chicago: David and Alfred Smart
Dynasty - Recent Discoveries, Tokyo and Palo Alto Gallery, University of Chicago, 1985, 76-77, 76-77,
CA: Kodansha, 1968, 99, plates 178-79. numbers 20-21; John A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains
2. See Percival David Foundation, Imperial Taste, from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington DC: Freer
37, number 13. Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1956, 91-93,
3. See Watt and Ford, East Asian Lacquer, 42, plates 30-31.
number 2. 16. See Ho and others, Eight Dynasties of Chinese
4. Watt and Ford, East Asian Lacquer, 42. Painting, 223-25, number 177.
5. See Murata Jiro and Fujieda Akira editors, 17. Zhang Qiande (Zhang Chou), Pinghua pu (A
Kyoyokan (Chii-yung-kuan; The Juyong Gate), Treatise on Flower Arranging) (first half, seven-
Kyoto: Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, teenth century), in Deng Shi and Huang Binhong
1955, volume 2 (plates), plates 30, 47, 86-87, 104; compilers, Meishu congshu,Taipei:Yiwen yinshuguan,
Watt and Ford, East Asian Lacquer, 42, figure 13; photo reprint of 1947, fourth revised edition, vol-
Addis, Chinese Ceramics from Datable Tombs, 46, ume 10, 2/10, 118.
number 29e.
6. See, for example, Watt and Ford, East Asian Lac- 20
quer, 69-73, numbers 19-21. Terese Tse Bartholomew,
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, on a recent visit 1. See Hayashi, In Shu seiddki soran, plate vol-
to the Clague collection, identified the blossom ume, 36-46.
shape of the Clague piece as hibiscus, a member 2. For a selection of Western Zhou fangding
of the mallow family. with rounded corners, see Hayashi, In Shu seiddki
7. See Watt, Chinese Jades, 78-79, number 61; soran, plate volume, 44, number 75; 45, 76, 82-84;
134-35, number 111; 138-39, numbers 114-15. 46, numbers 85-87.
T H E R O B E R T II. C L A G U E C O L L E C T I O N 2 2 1