Page 34 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

dered colors) or yangcai (foreign colors). The so-called rose enamels appear to have been introduced into China
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from Europe by Jesuit priests who were active at the imperial court in Beijing during the late Kangxi reign. The
models from which the Chinese craftsmen worked were most likely enameled copper dishes and plaques from
Limoges and southern Germany. After initial experiments on metal, the Chinese began to paint the new colloidal
gold enamels on porcelains. By the Yongzheng reign, the opaque famille rose enamels, which allowed for both a
greater range of colors and greater subtlety in shading than the translucent famille verte enamels of the preced-
ing Kangxi period, had reached a peak of technical quality and aesthetic refinement. Almost all famille rose enam-
els on porcelain were painted over high-fired colorless glazes. So popular did the famille rose palette become that
it dominated enamel decoration through the remainder of the Qing dynasty. The majority of the famille rose ves-
sels in the National Gallery date from the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns of the eighteenth century. Included
among these are a group of "ruby-back" dishes (1942.9.553-557), a garniture de cheminee (1942.9.635-639), large
fishbowls (1942.9.640-643), and a pair of enormous covered jars surmounted by lions (1942.9.633-634).

"RUBY-BACK" DISHES
The family of "ruby-back" dishes, characterized by extremely thin potting, exterior walls covered with a lavender
or ruby-colored monochrome glaze, and interiors decorated with complex diaper patterns and central panels
with figural scenes in famille rose enamels, is most often dated to the reign of Yongzheng. This type appeared very
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shortly after the introduction of the famille rose enamels at the end of the Kangxi period. In Chinese the "ruby"
colored glaze is currently known as baoshi hong you ("gem-red glaze"; see 1942.9.557). The slightly different "rose
red" glaze is known in Chinese as yanzhi hong you ("rouge-red glaze"; see 1972.43.34). A bowl in the British
Museum with a "ruby" back, famille rose flowers on the interior, and a cyclical date on the base in underglaze blue
corresponding to 1721 is the earliest known dated example of famille rose enamel decoration on porcelain in
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China. The derivation of the complex diaper patterns found on the majority of "ruby-back" dishes from dia-
per borders on late Kangxi-period famille verte dishes is clear from comparison with known Kangxi examples,
and is strong evidence for a close temporal relationship between the two. 41
Firm evidence that "ruby-back" dishes were produced during the Yongzheng reign is provided by a bowl
42
in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. This has the ruby-colored glaze on the exterior and is decorated on the
interior with a scene typically found on vessels of this family: Within concentric rings of diaper patterns enclos-
ing floral panels is a central panel with two young women and two boys respectively seated and playing among
pieces of furniture and large, elaborately painted vases. On the base of the Walters bowl is a six-character under-
glaze blue seal script mark of Yongzheng.
A "ruby-back" dish first illustrated in Jacquemart's Histoire de la porcelaine (1862) is important because
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of its dated inscription. It is decorated, within concentric diaper bands on the lip and cavetto, with a central
panel depicting a rooster and flowers. The inscription, written in black enamel on the central panel, reads, "[May
you have] honor, fame, and wealth; inscribed in the huachao [second] month of the year jiachen [1724] at the
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Zhujiang jingshe [Pearl River Monastery]." This is followed by a seal in pink enamel reading "Baishi" (white
stone). A similar seal appears on a "ruby-back" dish in the Widener collection (1942.9.557) inscribed "Lingnan
huizhi" (a painter of Lingnan). Aside from the date on the former, both dishes are important because the inscrip-
tions help to localize them. The Pearl River flows through the center of Guangzhou (Canton), and Lingnan is
another name for Canton. This suggests that both dishes were decorated in Canton.
That "ruby-back" dishes continued to be made into the early Qianlong reign is confirmed by a "ruby-
back" dish in a French private collection, decorated on the interior with European figures. 45 It bears a six-char-
acter underglaze blue seal script mark of Qianlong and is painted in the same style as the more common
"ruby-back" dishes with Chinese figures.

18 D E C O R A T I V E A R T S