Page 19 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 348

sultan of Delhi (r. 1295–1315). In addition, a faithful thirteenth-century Jin-Yuan dynasties, including a dish
copy of a manuscript compiled during his lifetime depicts showing children at play on a garden terrace overlooking
two-lidded bottles, a large jar, architectural tiles akin to a pond with mandarin ducks (see Fig. 7.23). In fact, this
the Kashani tile, a spouted la¯vard bowl possibly of Chi- scene, with its popular Yuan motifs—garden scenes,
nese origin, and a pear-shaped (yuhuchun) metal bottle mandarin ducks in a lotus pond, and children at play—
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(Fig. 7.26). Other evidence confirms the connection be- may be a candidate for an early Yuan date. In 1388, too,
tween turquoise Kashani wares from the Il-Khanate and the early Ming author Cao Zhao took note of Ding ware,
peacock blue Cizhou wares. In the ruins of a palace in commenting that ancient white, as well as rarer persim-
Delhi destroyed in 1398, remnants of many fourteenth- mon and black, versions commanded prices higher than
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century blue and white wares were discovered. And a imperial wares from Jingdezhen (he ranked them eighth
fourteenth-century text confirms that the amount of among fourteen types of ceramics). He noted as well
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goods conveyed between countries and kingdoms was that, by contrast, Ding ware of the late fourteenth cen-
substantial, and mentions a devastating loss of Egyptian tury was poorly crafted and not considered valuable by
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and Chinese cloth and wares. 65 serious collectors. Craig Clunas has suggested that Cao
Zhao’s use of the term “ancient” may indicate that newer
White Wares: Ding, Huo, Dehua, and Others 72
Ding kilns were still in production at that time. In either
From the tenth through the thirteenth centuries, parts case, the expanded edition of Cao’s book, published in
of northern China came under the control of non-Chi- 1462, notes that Hezhou ware (at the bottom of Cao’s list)
nese nomadic or seminomadic peoples, a change that af- and called “Ho-chou” ware in Percival David’s translation
fected ceramic production. First the Khitan (Qidan in was called “new Ding ware” in an effort to increase its sala-
romanized Chinese) established the Liao dynasty bility; furthermore mention is also made by Cao of a Peng
(907–1125). Then the Jurchen (Nuzhen or Ruzhen) con- Junbao (“P’eng Chün-pao in David’s translation) who is
quered Liao as well as larger sections of Song territory to credited with making these imitation Ding wares within this
establish the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). By 947, the region region so that it is known as Peng ware (Peng yao). Later writ-
where the most famous Northern Song white ware kilns ers of the Ming and Qing dynasties promoted this connec-
were located—those that produced classic Ding wares tion between the two wares, causing the Hezhou kilns of old
(in present-day Yanshan Cun and Qianci Cun of Quyang to be associated with a site now identified as the Huo kilns. 73
county, Hebei province)—was incorporated into terri- Several northern kilns produced white wares in the
tory ruled by the Khitans of the Liao dynasty general Ding tradition during the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dy-
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(907–1125). In fact, some Ding potters were treated as nasties. Some kilns such as Hebeji (sometimes called Hao-
prisoners of war, taken to the main Liao capital, biji) in Henan province and Guantai in Hebei province,
Shangjing (south of present-day Lindong in Inner Mon- which are best known for Cizhou wares, also created ce-
golia), and established a white ware kiln that operated ramics in the Ding style. The Huo, also known as the
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from about 1060 to 1100. The body and glaze of the Huozhou or Huo Xian kiln, is located southwest of the
white wares made at Shangjing are closely related to Ding town of Chencun near the city of Huozhou in Shanxi
wares, while the shape often imitates Liao metalwork. 68 province. The site, which spans approximately thirty-seven
In 1004, the Liao signed a treaty with the Northern acres (150,000 square meters) and is protected by the Chi-
Song empire, after which ideas, products, and people nese government, began to be excavated in the 1970s. It
flowed freely between the Northern Song and Liao made simple white wares economically by stacking wares in
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states. But in 1125, the Liao kingdom fell to Jurchen the kiln using five small spurs or by leaving an unglazed ring
(Nuzhen or Ruzhen) forces, who went on to found the in the interior (unlike the standard Ding practice of stack-
Jin dynasty. Afterward, production of Ding wares contin- ing wares with unglazed rims inverted in stepped saggars).
ued on a smaller scale, and designs grew simpler. It is Bowls, dishes, basins, stem cups, brushwashers, bottles,
generally believed that most of the molded Ding dishes wine jars, and incense burners have been excavated at the
were made during and after the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) site. Decorative motifs, if used, generally adorned the inte-
and that the Ding kilns declined during the Yuan dynasty. riors of bowls, dishes, and basins, and included flowers,
This was due to loss of major patronage, particularly that ducks, geese, fish, deer, Lake Tai rocks, dragons with waves,
of the Mongol elite, who preferred the pure white wares characters or text, and cranes among pines, which are vari-
to the ivory-toned Ding creations. Yet some exquisite ex- ously dated Song or Yuan. 74 Some believe these wares
amples of molded Ding ware have been attributed to the “mark the latter end of the great Ding tradition.” 75

348 Yuan Dynasty Ceramics