Page 155 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

floral and leaf motifs. Within the pattern there is a clear representation of a peony, which

is known as the king of flowers. Accompanying the flower pattern is a design of foo

dogs (shi shizi 石獅子), which is a symbol associated with Buddhism that acts as a

guardian to Buddhist temple entrances or palace buildings. The foo dogs move across the

jar’s body, jumping through the peonies growing along the vase’s body. Mary II’s

collection is still a part of the Royal Collection Trust, and their records indicate that 787

porcelain objects were acquired during Mary II’s reign. 193

The blue-and-white porcelain Mary II collected was utilized to create intricate

decorative displays in her palaces. Hampton Court was filled with Chinese blue-and-

white porcelain. Mary II’s sets of porcelain decorated tabletops, lined doorways, and

created garniture sets within rooms, creating a style that became known within her own

time as “fatal excess.” 194 Although it is difficult for scholars to identify which pieces of

the Royal Collection Trust can be traced back to Mary II, surviving paintings offer

insight into how the original blue-and-white porcelain of Hampton Court was displayed.

When Hampton Court was opened for public viewing during the Victorian era, the idea

of life within the palace became a highly romanticized subject for many artists. James

Digman Wingfield (1800-1872) painted The King’s Bedchamber at Hampton Court

Palace in 1849, providing a visual representation of how the space appeared at the time

of the painting (Figure 53). At the time the painting was created, the opulent bedchamber

193 It is critical to note that these early records only calculate the number of pieces of porcelain
found within Mary II’s apartment. This method of calculation resulted in a portion of this
number being wares produced outside of China, even though they are in the same blue-and-white
style. Mary II was known to also collect Delft wares, which would be included within the total
amount of porcelain she acquired.
194 Robert Finlay, The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2010), 173.

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