Page 54 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1972.43.6 (C-56i)
Stem Cup

Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566)
Porcelain with enamels on the biscuit, 12.3 x 17.3
1
2
(4 7/ 32X6 3/i6)
Harry G. Steele Collection, Gift of Grace C. Steele
INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed in 'Phagspa script on the interior wall of the foot in same mark. The first is a bowl in the British Museum,
underglaze blue, corresponding phonetically to the Chinese in London, decorated in an identical style, with two slip-
a horizontal line: Jiajing nian zhi [made in the reign of Jiajing] trailed dragons chasing flaming pearls on the exterior
5
(fig. i). The second is a blue-and-white dish in the Freer
TECHNICAL NOTES Gallery of Art, Washington, decorated with dragons
The exterior has designs slip-trailed in white onto the surface 6
and covered with yellow and green enamels on the biscuit. The among floral scrolls (fig. 2)
high foot is hollow and glazed with a blue-tinged transparent Since all three vessels are decorated in the style of the
glaze; the foot-ring is sharply trimmed. There is a hairline crack Zhengde reign, and yet have 'Phagspa marks corre-
emanating from the lip; the lip is covered by a brass band. sponding to the Jiajing reign mark, it is probable that
they were produced in the first years of the latter period.
PROVENANCE It is also likely that these vessels were made as an imper-
(Parish-Watson Gallery, New York); sold to Harry G. Steele ial gift to a Tibetan temple or high-ranking lama. The
[1881-1941], Pasadena; his widow, Grace C. Steele. vessels were probably produced no later than the first
years of Jiajing, since the ceramic decorative style
HE SHAPE AND THE DECORATIVE MOTIFS of this finely changed soon after the beginning of the Jiajing reign in
Tpotted stem cup are characteristic of the late fif- 1522. Furthermore, the Jiajing emperor's growing obses-
teenth and early sixteenth centuries. The interior is dec- sion with the Daoist religion (at the expense of the influ-
orated with two incised dragons chasing flaming pearls ence of the Buddhist church) would have made such a
7
around the cavetto and covered with colorless glaze. At gift unlikely late in his reign.
the center is an incised double circle containing three SL
stylized rwyf-shaped clouds. The exterior has two five-
clawed dragons slip-trailed onto the surface, chasing
flaming pearls among clouds. A ring of eleven lotus lap- NOTES
pets encircles the cup just above the foot. Around the 1. Medley 1976, fig. 154.
base of the foot is a classic scroll bounded by parallel 2. Medley 1976, 207-208, fig. 155; see also Valenstein 1970,
lines. While the green enamel that highlights the high pi. 22.
relief designs is uniform in tonality, the yellow enamel
background has a mottled appearance. 3. Compare Valenstein 1970, pi. 38.
The presence of slip-trailed decoration is rare on this 4. On 'Phagspa, see Snellgrove 1968, 169; and Herbert Franke,
type of vessel, as the majority of middle-Ming stem cups "Tibetans in Yuan China," in Langlois 1981,304—322.
with similarly styled yellow and green enamel decoration 5. Previously published in Hobson 1926-1927, pi. 6, fig. 2.
1
have the designs incised into the body. The technique of 6. Pope et al. 1975,9: pi. 109 (where the mark is incorrectly record-
slip-trailing is common, however, on the so-called fahua ed as the phonetic equivalent of "Zhengde nian zhi"}.
2
wares of the middle Ming dynasty. The style of this stem 7. See Lienche Tu Fang, "Chu Hou-ts'ung," in Goodrich and
cup and its decoration, however, is more typical of the Fang 1976, i: 320-321.
reign of Zhengde (1506-1521). 3
An unusual feature of this stem cup is the four-char-
acter 'Phagspa script mark inscribed in underglaze blue
on the interior wall of the foot. This script was invented
in the early Yuan dynasty (late thirteenth century) by the
Tibetan monk'Phagspa (d. 1280) for the phoneticization
of Chinese words into Tibetan and Mongolian. 4 The
mark is the phonetic equivalent of the Chinese reign-
mark, 'Jiajing nian zhi" (made in the reign of Jiajing interior of stem
[1522-1566]). Two other vessels are known that bear this with reignmark

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