Page 26 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

brownish, or even tinged with green. Seldom seen in the Ming dynasty, it was eventually all but abandoned in China,
with the exception of two brief revivals, one in the seventeenth century, the other in the nineteenth century from
1821 to 1850, under the patronage of the Daoguang emperor.
In the third method of porcelain decoration, low-fired polychrome enamels (amalgams of lead-silicate
glazes and metallic oxides) were painted on the high-fired glaze of porcelain vessels. The ware was then refired
in an oxidizing atmosphere at a lower temperature, usually between 700 and 900 degrees C, in order to fuse the
enamels to the glaze surface. The preparation of these overglaze enamel colors was an exacting procedure, requir-
ing great care to obtain pigments that were nearly free of impurities.
An alternative to underglaze painting was to paint the enamels directly on the biscuit, or unglazed but already
high-fired porcelain body, without the addition of a final colorless glaze. The vessel was then fired at a lower temper-
ature to fix the enamels. The use of lead-fluxed glazes made a wider range of colors possible. Most of the famille noire
and famille jaune porcelains in the Widener collection were decorated using this enamel-on-biscuit technique.
Although painting with enamels on ceramics first occurred in China during the twelfth century, it was
not until the early Ming dynasty (c. 1400) that their use on porcelains became widespread. At that time, under-
glaze blue painting and overglaze enamels were often combined on a single piece. This technique continued into
the Qing period (see, for example, the pair of Kangxi-period bowls with Daoist symbols, 1972.43.38-39). One of
the most refined versions of this technique is found on the doucai ("joined" or "dove-tailed colors") porcelains
of the Yongzheng reign in the early eighteenth century, in which pale overglaze red, green, and yellow enamels
were combined with underglaze blue painting to create an extraordinarily elegant decorative palette (see, for
example, the Yongzheng period dish depicting an island of the immortals, 1972.43.43). 13
Most Qing-dynasty enameled porcelains employ only overglaze decoration, without any underglaze
blue color; this is true of many of the famille verte and famille rose porcelains in the National Gallery collection.
Excellent examples include the tall baluster vase with blossoming plum branches and birds (1942.9.630) and the
"ruby-back" dish with flowers (1942.9.557). These types are discussed at greater length in the section on poly-
chrome porcelains below.
Although on many Chinese ceramics the glaze provides the only decoration, the techniques of carving,
incising, molding, stamping, and sculpting were also used from early times to modify the surfaces of vessels dur-
ing their formation. The Yaozhou celadon bowl (1972.43.3) is an excellent example of carved decoration, while
molding and sculpting were used to create the superb group of famille verte and famille noire porcelain figurines
from the Widener collection (see, for example, the figure of Shou Lao, the Daoist God of Longevity, 1942.9.592,
and the pair of miniature lions, 1942.9.604).
Slip-trailing is a more unusual decorative technique, in which designs are drawn onto the surface of a
vessel by extruding thin lines of liquid clay (slip) through a narrow tube; the vessel is usually then glazed and
fired. This technique is often found on the fahua ware of the Ming dynasty, and can be seen on a Jiajing-period
(1522-1566) stem cup from the Steele collection (1972.43.6).

MONOCHROME GLAZES AND THEIR COLORANTS
The National Gallery possesses a large and choice representation of monochrome porcelains of the Qing dynasty,
the period in which technical refinement in ceramic production reached unsurpassed levels. The appeal of these
monochromes lies in their elegance of form and diversity of glaze color and texture. They call for aesthetic
responses different from those demanded by contemporary polychrome wares. In looking at polychromes, the
viewer's attention may be diverted by the excellence of the superimposed decoration, the skills of the painter
overshadowing the potter's achievement. With the monochromes, however, the viewer's attention is held exclu-
sively by the potter's mastery of form and by the subtlety of color and texture of the glaze.

1Q D E C O R A T I V E A R T S