Page 30 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 359

around the innermost circular zone on the Yamantaka
Mandala (a cosmic blueprint of the celestial palace of the
Tibetan Buddhist deity Yamantaka, the Conqueror of
Death). 102 This border imitates pearl beadwork on Mon-
gol court dress. Thirteenth-century Chinese envoys to
the Mongols noted that wealthy women wore red or
plum silk hats that were sometimes embellished with
pearls. 103 Clothing embellished with pearls is also men-
tioned by Marco Polo (1254–1324) and Odoric of Porde-
none (ca. 1286–1331). 104
The band and panel arrangement, so common on
fourteenth-century vessels, also appears to be based on
textile designs. 105 And some other motifs, such as bands
of foliate scrolls, lotus-petal panels, and cresting waves,
were most likely derived from Tibetan Buddhist iconog-
raphy as well.
Several pieces of porcelain in the Baoding hoard imi-
tate metalwork. A white porcelain wine cup imitates the
shape of a silver example thought to have been made in
1315. The sapphire blue yi (spouted bowl; see Fig. 7.37)
has the same shape as a silver bowl found in a Yuan tomb
dated by a stone inscription to 1320, and another with a
date of 1314. The gilt flowering plum branches, seen on
the sapphire blue glazed porcelain wine cup and fre-
7.41. La¯vard ware jar, fritware, with overglaze painted and leaf-
quently on blue and white, also appear on Yuan metal- gilded (so-called la¯jvardina) decoration, Iranian Ilkhanid period
work, such as a silver blossom-shaped wine cup dated (1206–1353), 37.5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
1315 from a Yuan cache in Hunan. 106 York.
The metal most precious to the Mongols was gold, and
several of the sapphire blue pieces were embellished with
gilt motifs. Gilding and other decorative methods seen on lain guan, or jar. 108 It was decorated with a four-claw
the wares in the Baoding find may have been influenced by dragon similar to those painted on blue and white wares
wares made at Kashan, and to a lesser degree by products of the Gao’an treasure. Some scholars have proposed
of kilns in Bagdad and Tabriz, in the Persian Il-Khanate that this cache was buried by a member of the Mongol
(now Iran). From the late twelfth century to the mid-four- imperial family during the turmoil surrounding the upris-
teenth century, la¯vard ceramic wares (from the Persian ing staged in 1352 by the Red Turban Army against Yuan
word for lapis lazuli) with dark blue glaze, sometimes ro- officials in Jinlin (Nanjing). The variety of silver objects,
manized as la¯vard, “la¯vardina,” “lajvard,” or “la¯jvardina,” some with inscriptions in Arabic, Chinese, and Sanskrit,
were produced. It was not unusual for fine examples to be seems to indicate that the articles came from a number of
embellished with red, white, black, and gold leaf designs sources. It was the practice of the Mongols to appropri-
(Fig. 7.41). 107 The copper red on the pair of jars unearthed ate the riches of the vanquished. Another possibility is
at Baoding may also represent an attempt to imitate that someone associated with the temple accepted these
painted manganese red decorations on la¯vard wares as well offerings from members of the Mongol elite and buried
as imperial crimson textiles (see Fig 7.36). them in 1352 for safekeeping.
The third treasure was discovered in 1966 during a
Domestic Wares for Commoners: The Old Drum Tower
canal-digging project at Jintan, near Nanjing. It is now in
Cache, Dadu, and Others
the collection of Zhenjiang Municipal Museum, Jiangsu
province. In Yuan times this area was the site of a com- In 1970, ten pieces of Jingdezhen blue and white and
munity associated with the temple and convent of Hu six pieces of qingbai—sometimes described as porcelain
Chi-an. The cache, found two meters underground, con- with a “shadow blue” (yingqing) glaze—were found at a
tained fifty pieces of silver inside a blue and white porce- site on Old Drum Tower ( Jiugulou) Avenue in Beijing.

Yuan Dynasty Ceramics 359