Page 77 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

collections and are slowly being reevaluated. Within the catalog Official Models and the

Qing Imperial Porcelain Ware (官樣御瓷) and Gugong zhencang Cixi de ciqi (故宮珍藏

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慈禧的瓷器), the aesthetics, forms, and trends that Cixi cultivated are evident.

Cixi maintained a level of porcelain standards within her early commissioned

porcelain, and it is arguable that some of her earlier commissions were more closely

connected to pre-established designs. The wares that appear to be the most traditional

and reminiscent of earlier porcelain practices at Jingdezhen are the vessels produced for

the emperors she served as regent. It is evident that these porcelain vessels were meant to

closely connect to the inherited imperial power of China. The porcelain strongly

connected to the past, therefore displaying each ruler’s claim to the throne. Porcelain

vessels like a Large Dish, dating to the Tongzhi period, emphasize the connection that

Cixi tried to establish by promoting the stylistic characteristics of earlier Chinese

porcelain (Figure 14). This vessel is clearly Cixi’s own style due to the incorporation of

one of her personal reign marks, chuxiugong zhi. The reign mark indicates it was made

for the Palace of Harboring Grace, which is one of the palaces that Cixi resided at within

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the Forbidden City. This ware is detailed with an intricate underglaze cobalt blue motif

of a dragon chasing a pearl as it flies through a design of clouds and flames. The fine

detail on the piece allows the viewer to identify each individual scale on the dragon’s

71 Guanyang Yuci: Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Qingdai Zhi Ci Guanyang Yu Yuyao Ciqi (Official
Designs for Imperial Porcelains: Qing Dynasty Official Designs for the Manufacture of
Porcelain and Imperial Ceramics of the Gugong Museum) (Beijing: Forbidden City Publishing
House, 2007). A similar exhibition catalog focused on Cixi’s porcelain patronage was published
in 2013. See Gugong bowuyuan, Shoudu bowuguan 首都博物館 eds, Gugong zhencang Cixi de
ciqi 故宮珍藏慈禧的瓷器 (Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 2013).
72 Ronald W. Longsdorf, “The Tongzhi Imperial Wedding Porcelain,” Orientations 27, no. 9
(1996): 69–78.

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