Page 247 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

from the illustration it appears to be Dehua porce- Red as Flame, 70, number34.
lain.) See Carswell, Blue and White, 96-97, number 21. See Brinker and Lutz, Chinese Cloisonne: The
40. Carswell's attribution to the sixteenth century Pierre Uldry Collection, figure 340.
rests on the use of Arabic inscriptions as deco- 22. The reason for the reliance on cold working
ration and on the similarity of the censer's shape remains unknown; it may be simply that foundries
and decoration to those of several bronze censers preferred to produce a number of virtually identical
with marks dated to 1430 and 1431; although he blanks that could be decorated quickly to fit a
doubts their Xuande-period origins, Carswell leans client's specifications.
toward a sixteenth-century date for the bronzes, 23. See Carswell, Blue and White, 96, figure 34.
noting, however, that they might be later. For
reasons explained in this entry, the present author
believes that the Clague bronze and the related 26
ones cited by Carswell date to the nineteenth 1. See Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil
century (or to the second half of the eighteenth Shrine, plate 98, number 29.436; National Palace
century at the very earliest). If the Ashmolean Museum, Blue-and-white Ware of the Ming Dynasty,
porcelain censer is indeed related to this group of book 6, 36-37, plate 4.
bronzes, then it too must have been made in the 2. See Beurdeley and Raindre, Qing Porcelain,
eighteenth or nineteenth century. Although it 75, plate 105, ewer at right.
possesses a handsome and satisfying form, the 3. See Gyllensvard, Chinese Gold, Silver, and
Ashmolean censer exhibits poor craftsmanship, at Porcelain, 64, number 67; Gyllensvard, Chinese
least it seems so in the illustration, which would Gold and Silver, 230-31, number 151.
argue for a nineteenth-century date of manu- 4. See Fujioka and Hasebe, M/n, 92-93, numbers
facture: the ogival panel is not centered over the 97-98; Seizo Hayashiya, Henry Trubner and others,
leg; the top point of the panel is off-center so that Chinese Ceramics from Japanese Collections:
it does not appear directly over the corresponding T'ang Through Ming Dynasties, New York: Asia
indentation in the lower border; the panel is slight- Society in association with John Weatherhill Inc,
ly irregular in shape, which disturbs the symmetry 1977, 94, number 50; 97, number 53; Medley, Ming
that is ordinarily considered a cardinal element of and Ch'ing Monochrome, 37, number A560; plate
such a design; and the top portion of the cabriole 8, number A560; Pope, Chinese Porcelains from
leg is lumpy. In addition, in having an indentation the Ardebil Shrine, plate 98, number 29.433.
rather than a downward-pointing barb at the center 5. See Watt, Chinese Jades from the Collection
of the lower border, the decorative panel resem- of the Seattle Art Museum, 114, number 96.
bles in shape those on nineteenth-century cloisonne 6. See Tokyo National Museum, compiler, Toyo
enamels with Arabic inscriptions; compare Brinker no shikko gei: Tokubetsu ten (Oriental Lacquer
and Lutz, Chinese Cloisonne: The Pierre Uldry Col- Arts: A Special Exhibition), Tokyo: Tokyo kokuritsu
lection, figure 340. hakubutsukan, 1977, number 526.
14. Zhengde-period blue-and-white porcelain 7. See Fujioka and Hasebe, M/n, 92, number 97;
brushrests in the form of five mountain peaks, for Hayashiya, Trubner and others, Chinese Ceramics
example, typically have inscriptions in Persian from Japanese Collections, 97, number 53.
reading khama dan, which might be translated 8. See Fujioka and Hasebe, Min, 93, number 98;
'pen holder'or'brush rest.'An unpublished example Hayashiya, Trubner and others, Chinese Ceramics
was given to the Harvard University Art Museum from Japanese Collections, 94, number 50.
by Mr and Mrs Samuel B. Grimson in 1983. For 9. See Gyllensvard, Chinese Gold, Silver, and
other examples, see Valenstein, A Handbook of Porcelain, 64, number 67; Gyllensvard, Chinese
Chinese Ceramics, 168, number 163; Medley, The Gold and Silver, 230-31, number 151.
Chinese Potter, 218, figure 161. 10. See Fujioka and Hasebe, M/n, 93, number 98;
15. The six-character marks recorded in Xuande Hayashiya, Trubner and others, Chinese Ceramics
yiqi tupu invariably end with the character zhi; from Japanese Collections, 94, number 50.
Xuande yiqi tupu does not record any marks on 11. See Fujioka and Hasebe, M/n, 93, number 98;
Xuande bronzes with zao as the final character. In Hayashiya, Trubner and others, Chinese Ceramics
addition, genuine marks on Xuande porcelains from Japanese Collections, 94, number 50.
always end with the character zhi] see National 12. See Mikami, Ryo Kin Gen, 97, number 79;
Palace Museum, Ming Xuande ciqi tezhan mulu. Fujioka and Hasebe, M/n, 9, number 1; 14, number
16. Xuandey/q/tupu,volume1,juan6,4-10(all recto). 7; 163, number 143; Mowry, Handbook, 71, number
17. See Hayashi, In Shu seiddki soran, plate vol- 1979.155; Percival David Foundation, Imperial
ume, 1-35. Taste, 58, number 29; Pope, Chinese Porcelains
18. See National Palace Museum, Kuan Ware of from the Ardebil Shrine, plate 54.
the Sung Dynasty, 50-51, plates 20-21. 13. See Fujioka and Hasebe, M/n, 127, number 129.
19. See Ritual Vessels, 131, number 57. 14. See Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani,
20. Compare Brown and Rabiner, Clear as Crystal, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th

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