Page 60 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

to make out floral scrolls, a scroll band at the base, lotus since worn off, and that the adhesive from the gold is what
and water plants, and a starlike band. 5 Gilding is a fre- remains to be seen (conversation with the author, 27 August 1963,
quent addition to the surface of porcelains in the Ming in NGA curatorial files).
and Qing periods, either alone, as in this Ming example, 2. Some Ming examples are decorated with three-color glazes;
or in combination with low-fired lead enamels on single Hobson and Hetherington 1923, pi. 129. There is a three-color
colored glazes, or with the famille verte and famille rose vase of somewhat the same form, with similar dragon handles,
palettes (1972.43.17 and 1942.9.640-643). The fugitive gold in the collection of the Compagnie de la Chine et des Indes,
on this piece leaving its imprint on the glaze provokes Paris. See Beurdeley and Beurdeley 1974, 205, pi. 105.
questions about how it was applied, but the technique is 3. In bronze: Freer Gallery of Art, ace. no 57.22. Reproduced in
probably the same as that used for other gilt decoration. 6 Freer 1967, no. 97, pi. in, 48, pi. 91 (detail); Six Dynasties 1975, no.
It is interesting to speculate on the possible relation- 37, repro. 61. In jade: Lawton 1982,154, no. 101.
ship of this vase to kinran-de (gold-brocaded) porcelain, 4. In Tang pottery, dragon handles are found on amphoras,
the Japanese term for the Ming polychrome wares elabo- with the animals' jaws closed on the lips of the vases. See, for
rately decorated in gold, which were made in unofficial example, Freer Gallery of Art no. 43.4: Great Collections, Freer,
kilns especially for Japanese demand. There is a marked 1981, fig. 22; Medley 1976, 85, fig. 58; Metropolitan Museum of
Art, ace. no.
1984.483.3: Valenstein 1989, 66, fig. 58.
difference between this vase, with its simple naturalistic
design, and the typical kinran-de ware, with its lavish 5. See technical notes.
decoration of close patterns combining gold with over- 6. Hobson (1915,2:102) believes that the process included a sec-
glaze colored enamels. There is, however, a definite link ond firing at low temperature in the muffle kiln in the same way
to the blue monochromes and to the "mirror black" as that required by overglaze lead enamel. He also refers to the
monochromes of the Kangxi period, both types that description of the gilding process in Tao Shuo (Description of
were decorated with overglaze gold painted designs. Pottery) by Zhu Wan, published in 1774, saying, "Gold leaf com-
bined with one tenth by weight of carbonate of lead was mixed
An almost identical vase of impeccable provenance is with gum and painted on with a brush." A footnote says that
in the Baltimore Museum of Art (fig. i). It was formerly Jingdezhen Taolu (An Account of Pottery at Jingdezhen), 1815, in
in the collections of William H. Whitridge, J. P. Morgan, book 9, fol. 17, verso, quotes a method considered infallible for
and Marsden Perry. 7 fixing the gold by adding garlic juice to the gold mix before
There are examples of this same general shape but of painting and firing. Jenyns 1959, 84, speaks of "black oil gilding,"
heavier appearance dating from as early as the fifteenth and other writers have written of "oily" adhesives. It may be that
century. Wares of this type are thought to be products some kind of oil was part of the adhesive formula for gold.
of unofficial kilns, which assumed growing importance Valenstein 1989,168, mentions that gilding in Ming was a legacy
in the last part of the Ming dynasty as a result of weak from the Yuan period.
imperial patronage. 7. Klapthor 1993, 47, no. 35.
JK
REFERENCES
NOTES 1947 Christensen: 23, repros. 28,29; 1956: 24, repro. 28, figs. 11,12.
i. Hajime Kato, a Japanese ceramist famous for his technical vir- 1904-1911 Morgan: i: 17, no. 16, pi. 61.
tuosity, examined this piece in 1957. He noted that the piece is 1907 Bushell and Laffan: 26, no. 19, repro.
made from molds in five sections. He commented further that,
contrary to some published descriptions, the design was not 1915 Hobson: 2, 79.
incised under the glaze, but had been painted in gold that has 1988 Jenyns: 139, repro. 190.

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