Page 120 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; the Walters Art NOTES
Gallery, Baltimore; the Palace Museum, Beijing; and the 1. The previous owner of this vase may have been the "Chinese
4
Tsui Museum, Hong Kong. The Metropolitan Museum nobleman of Tien-Ts'in [Tianjin]" mentioned in the title of the
of Art, New York, owns two "three-string" vases with fur- Yamanaka sale catalogue.
ther variations on this theme: a white Kangxi vessel with 2. Chait 1957,132. "Three-string vase" is a direct translation of
underglaze red dragons cavorting in relief waves quite the Chinese san xian ping, and Chait explains that the Chinese
similar to those in the celadon examples; and a likened the ridges to the strings of musical instruments. He also
Yongzheng piece adorned with an elaborate underglaze mentions that this form is sometimes described by the Chinese
red scene of dragons and waves. 5 as "turnip-shaped." See, for example, Li 1989, 146—147, no. 129,
Some scholars suggest that the smooth-skinned, three- repro.; and Tsai 1986,41, no. 13, repro. This word can also be used
clawed, single-horned, fork-tailed relief dragons on these to refer to a radish; see Yang 1988, 3: 56, no. 157,135, repro. Yang
celadon vases more closely resemble the archaistic chi indicates that either laifu (for the multiple meanings of which
dragons often seen on Song and Yuan porcelains than the see page 75, note 5, in the entry for 1942.9.492-494) and luobo
(the word generally used for radish, usually meaning the red, but
scaly-skinned, five-clawed, two-horned, long dragon, also sometimes including the white variety) is an acceptable
which is more typical of Qing wares. 6 However, these descriptive term for the shape of this vase. Though Chait pro-
creatures are generally described as haishui (ocean) long, fesses puzzlement at this appellation, it does not seem too
rather than chi, in Chinese captions to vases of this type, remote if the vegetable and vessel are both considered in profile.
while chi seems to be reserved for a more serpentine 3. Among the few other decorated monochromes in the
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creature with a much smaller head. In any case, the National Gallery collection are the celadon and peachbloom
National Gallery's original curatorial notes describe the vases with molded petal bands (1942.9.499, 500, 511-513, 521),
creatures as "archaistic dragon forms," and of that there three white vessels (1942.9.548-550), and a white porcelain bowl
is little doubt. Although the Qianlong reign is more gen- (1942.9.551) with incised patterns.
erally associated with antiquarianism than that of 4. Neill 1982, 82-83, no. 35, repro.; Lefebvre d'Argence 1967,
Kangxi, a taste for the antique was common among 138-139, pi. 64 C (my thanks to Clarence E Shangraw for the
China's educated elite at least from the Song dynasty information that the clair de lune identification of this vase in
onward, and it is likely that they were the intended audi- the catalogue was an error and that this is in fact a typical
ence for this piece. celadon example); Bushell 1980, color pi. 7, for the example in
Dragons frequently appear on Chinese ceramics, often the Walters Art Gallery; Li 1989, 146-147, no. 129, repro.; The
in pairs contending over a flaming, magical pearl. The Tsui Museum of Art (Hong Kong, 1991), no. 124, repro.
image presented here of two dragons cavorting among 5. Valenstein 1989, 220, no. 211, repro., and color pi. 36. Other
clouds and waves is a variant. It may owe something to Kangxi-marked or -attributed celadon vases exist with carved
incised
that
vase
a
or
dragons
portion
larger
of
the
occupy
the influential paintings of Chen Rong (fl. c. 1200-1266), body. Though sharing the same oviform profile, they may have
who often painted dragons fighting among clouds and only one or no ridges on their necks, and thus differ from the
waves, though judging from the works attributed to him, classic "three-string" form. These include an example in the
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his dragons were scaled and two-horned. These dragons British Museum, London: Jenyns 1951, pi. 40; the Taft Museum,
do not appear to be challenging each other, and although Cincinnati: Keppel 1988, 22, no. 12, 21, repro.; and the Baur
the dragons are similar in size, one commentator has Collection, Geneva: Ayers 1968-1974, 3: A358.
interpreted them as mother and young. 9
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104 D E C O R A T I V E A R T S