Page 36 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

Xuande onward, however, reignmarks on imperial wares were common, and tended to follow certain standard formats of four- or
(more often) six-character expressions. An example is the mark on the Xuande blue-and-white porcelain stem cup from the Steele
collection (1972.43.5), which reads "Da Ming Xuande nian zhi" (Made in the Xuande reign of the great Ming [dynasty]"). Until the
early eighteenth century most marks were inscribed in standard script (kaishu), but from the Yongzheng reign onward both stan-
dard script and seal script (zhuanshu) marks are found. (See an example of standard script on 1972.43.5 and an example of seal
script on 1972.43.50.) Marks of Ming-dynasty reigns began to be widely replicated in the seventeenth century; of these the most
common are the Xuande and Chenghua (1465-1487) marks, probably because these periods represented the zenith of refinement in
Ming ceramics. A spurious Xuande mark appears on a blue-and-white vase of the Kangxi reign from the Steele collection
(1972.43.9), a spurious Chenghua mark on a Kangxi period famille noire vase from the Widener collection (1942.9.605), and a spu-
rious (Ming) Jiajing mark on a Kangxi famille vertevase from the Widener collection (1942.9.607). While it would appear that in
the Kangxi period some independent potters were particularly liberal with their use of earlier Ming-dynasty marks, the tendency
to copy such marks is associated with nearly every phase of the Qing dynasty, and continues to the present day. Some of the marks
may have been applied with the intent to deceive the buyer, but many were applied to pay homage to the achievements of earlier
reigns. The copied marks usually can be distinguished from the originals by the style of calligraphy and their placement relative to
the foot-ring, as well as the overall aesthetic and technical characteristics of the vessels on which they are inscribed.
11. Feng 1987, 295-299.
12. In the Ming and Qing dynasties the majority of Chinese porcelains were made at Jingdezhen, an enormous kiln center in
Jiangxi Province in sourthen China. The large kilns at Jingdezhen could accommodate hundreds of pieces at a time. By the fif-
teenth century the division of labor at Jingdezhen was highly structured, and many individual workers could be involved in the
production of a single vessel. As Michael Dillon has shown in his study of Jingdezhen,
Within a workshop of any size there were specialists mixing the paste for the [porcelain] body, throwing, "mold-tapping" to
ensure uniform size, trimming on the wheel, decorating, and glazing. Other individuals took specialist responsibility for load-
ing and firing the kilns. Such a highly specialized division of labor permitted the improvement in quality demanded by the
court and by wealthy private buyers, and also permitted an increase in production as individuals became expert in finishing
their tasks speedily. (Dillon 1978, 41.)
This division of labor at Jingdezhen is corroborated by two letters written by the French Jesuit Pere d'Entrecolles in 1712 and 1722 to
the treasurer of the Jesuit Chinese and Indian missions. These letters, which are documents of singular importance for our under-
standing of early eighteenth-century Chinese ceramic technology, describe the production of porcelain at Jingdezhen in great detail.
(See "The Letters of Pere d'Entrecolles from Ching-te-chen" in Jenyns 1971, 6-16, and in Tichane 1983.)
13. The so-called doucai style is one of the many polychrome decoration techniques; other categories include fencai (powdered
colors), ruancai (soft colors), yangcai (foreign colors), andfalangai (enamel colors). For a discussion of the term doucai, see Cort,
Stuart, and Tarn 1993,15,16, 26, 27.
14. For a recent discussion of Chinese research on monochrome glazes and their names, see Feng 1987!), 415-438.
15. Tichane 1985,172.
16. Tichane 1985, 23, explains, "It is apparent that to get bright reds, the glaze must be overfired.... Whenever a certain article has
been fired to the point where it has a uniform red, it invariably does not have a brilliant color."
17. Kerr 1986, 74-75.
18. Chait 1957. The eight prescribed peachbloom shapes (ba da ma, literally, "the Eight Great Numbers") bearing Kangxi reign-
marks are described by Chait in the following order:
1. The pan long ping or the coiled dragon vase, in which the neck of the bottle-shaped vase is encircled by a baby dragon. This is
the only shape that is not represented among the monochromes in the collection.
2. The san xian ping, also called a three-string vase, or ring-neck amphora. This shape does not appear among the peachblooms,
but is found in a celadon vase from the Widener collection (1942.9.501).
3. The hebanpingor petal-decorated vase (sometimes referred to as a lotus-petal or chrysanthemum vase). Of this type, the
collection contains five peachblooms (1942.9.511-513, 521, 522) as well as two celadons (1942.9.499, 500).
4. The guanyin ping shape, more popularly known in the West as the amphora vase. Five peachbloom examples (1942.9.516-520)
and three pale blue (1942.9.492-494) are found in the National Gallery collection.
5. The jizhaozun shape ("chicken coop vase"), also known as "beehive" water pot. There are two vessels of this shape in peach-

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