Page 30 - Bonhams, Fine Chinese Art, London November 3, 2022

The Ming Xuande Period Blue and White
Reserve-Decorated Imperial Wares

in the Palace Museum, Beijing

Huang Weiwen

As the eldest grandson of the Yongle emperor, Zhu Zhanji (朱瞻基, The production of monochrome blue wares, coloured with cobalt
1387-1435) was already expected to be the future emperor of the blue and fired in a single firing at a temperature between 1280°C and
Ming dynasty when his father, the Hongxi emperor, was still a crown 1300°C, was developed during the Yuan dynasty and became quite
prince. He was, however, a crown prince only for a short time, as sophisticated in the Xuande reign. Such high-fired monochrome
the Hongxi emperor died 8 months after ascending the throne. In wares feature thickly glazed surfaces with a deep and even tone
1426, Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne with the era name Xuande, to resemble gemstones. They were, therefore, also referred to as
which means ‘proclamation of virtue’. During the Xuande period, the ‘gemstone blue’, or ‘sacrificial blue’, as such blue glazes were often
Ming dynasty was politically stable and economically prosperous. reserved for court ritual vessels used at the Sacrifice to Heaven. In
As an emperor who grew up and ruled mostly in peacetime, the addition to those with plain monochrome surfaces, Xuande blue
Xuande emperor took great pleasure in art and was known as an wares could also be decorated with printed or incised designs, or
accomplished painter, particularly skilled at painting animals. He also with white motifs reserved on the blue ground – the so-called ‘white-
showed a keen interest in the production of porcelain. Although the on-blue’.
Xuande reign lasted only ten years, the Imperial porcelain produced
during this period was among the best of the Ming dynasty in both White-on-blue was also produced in the Yuan era and, after being
quantity and quality, as evidenced by surviving wares and those absent in the early Ming period, re-emerged during the Xuande
unearthed from the Imperial kiln in Jingdezhen. reign. It is widely assumed that such wares were first incised with
decoration on the bodies, then covered with a transparent glaze
During the Xuande reign, the Imperial kiln’s main products were blue- over the decorated part, followed by a blue glaze over the rest of the
and-white and monochrome white wares. Other varieties included surfaces, and finally fired in a single high-temperature firing. There are
underglaze copper red wares, monochrome red, monochrome also scholars who suggest that the white designs were achieved by
blue, white on a blue ground, café au lait, brown on a white ground, removing the blue glaze that had originally been applied to the entire
celadon green, ge- and ru-type glazes, and those with underglaze object. In any case, the craftsmanship of white-on-blue is considered
blue and wucai painted enamels. However, production of these quite complex. Moreover, the production of blue glaze at the Xuande
varieties was significantly lower due to the complexity and immaturity Imperial kiln was still heavily reliant on imported cobalt from the Near
of the required firing techniques, as well as the fact that many of East, known as sumali qin in Chinese. As a result, mass production
these products were still in their infancy at the time. Among them, of either monochrome sacrificial blue wares or white-on-blue wares
high-fired wares with reserved white designs on a blue ground were was limited. The Palace Museum, Beijing has over 1570 Xuande
one of the rarest and most eye-catching. period porcelain in its collection, but only seven are sacrificial blue
wares and seven are white-on-blue. This has clearly indicated that
these blue wares were not mass-produced items, but rather rare and
precious objects.

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