Page 31 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 360

Two qingbai pieces bear the name of an unidentified Maojiawan, Xicheng district, Beijing. This site is notewor-
Mongol written in Phagspa script. Overall, these pieces thy because scattered among shards of common Ming ves-
are more informal than the wares in the princely treas- sels from kilns throughout China were a relatively small
ures. The most notable object in this find is a unique blue number of Tang celadon and white wares—Song, Liao,
and white flattened ovoid ewer decorated with a large sin- and Jin wares from the Longquanwu, Juntai, Cizhou,
gle phoenix flying above scrolling lotus. The design of Dingzhou, Guan, and Yue kilns; Yuan products of the
this ewer is playfully innovative, featuring a spout in the Cizhou, Longquan, Jingdezhen, and Jun kilns; as well as a
form of a phoenix head. few imperial wares. This site has thus aided our under-
An uprising over working conditions of native Chi- standing of domestic ceramic commerce during both the
nese and a water-borne plague in 1358, which caused the Yuan and Ming dynasties. 114
Shundi emperor enough concern that he was preparing Although Madame Ling was not a poor commoner,
to flee, may have precipitated the burial of these artifacts, she was not nobility, and her tomb in Fengcheng county
which are now in the collection of the Capital Museum, has yielded clues about the taste of reasonably wealthy
Beijing. 109 commoners living near Jingdezhen. Underglaze blue and
Another type of underglaze cobalt painted popular red decorated wares found in Madame Ling’s tomb are
ware (minyao) recovered from Yuan sites in Beijing was thought to have been made at a private kiln. Her epitaph,
produced at the Yuxi kiln in Yunnan province. This kiln dated the fifth lunar month of the Zhiyuan reign (1338), is
produced wares for the common man from the late Yuan written in underglaze blue on the wall of the lower story
through the late Ming dynasties and its relationship to of an underglaze copper red model of a granary. On the
Jingdezhen will be discussed later. The appearance of balcony of the second story a drama is being performed.
Yuxi underglaze blue decorated ceramics differs from A funerary jar is also decorated with figures. On the body
Jingdezhen popular ware; Yuxi underglaze blue wares of the funerary jar animals associated with the four direc-
have a less refined clay body and murky blue, coarsely tions (dragon, tiger, bird, and tortoise) appear among
painted motifs. One famous Yuan vessel excavated at the clouds, and inside the stupa-shaped finial on the lid is the
Yuxi kiln site is a lidded jar shaped like a Jizhou jar with a figure of a Buddha. All are highlighted in underglaze blue
lotus-leaf lid. Motifs in the two major decorative friezes and red. Two red-glazed figures from this tomb will be
on the vessel include figures in a landscape and peonies discussed later in the section on copper red wares. 115
separated by ruyi lappets that are filled with a cash pat-
The Sinan Shipwreck and Other Evidence of Exported
tern. Secondary motifs consist of scrolling lotus as well as
Ceramics
panels inspired by the beauty of lotus and banana
leaves. 110 Chinese authors refer to the glaze used on this In 1976, a Korean fisherman reported finding pieces
and other wares decorated with locally mined cobalt ore of a celadon vase in his fishing net. That year, 1,999 ce-
as grayish celadon. In the author’s opinion, it could also ramic wares were salvaged from this shipwreck off Sinan
be considered a less refined version of Jingdezhen qingbai (sometimes spelled Shinan or Xinan), South Korea, with
glaze. The same glaze was also used on undecorated some five thousand items, including ceramics, salvaged
wares and those with simple impressed or incised de- the next year (Figs. 7.42, 7.43; see also Figs. 7.2, 10.5). 116
signs, which included cloud patterns, slanting lines, or This discovery, the largest fourteenth-century ceramics
waves. Black-glazed wares were also made, which is one finding to date—and the most important find of export
indication that production at this site was also influenced Yuan ceramics prior to the perfection of the underglaze
by common northern black wares from the Cizhou and, painted porcelain technique—provides a wealth of infor-
perhaps to a lesser extent, Yaozhou kilns. 111 Vessel shapes mation about ceramics exported during that era. Excava-
included bowls, dishes, saucer dishes, and jars. 112 tions undertaken by the South Korean Navy and Office
The Yuxi kiln continued to operate during the Ming dy- of Cultural Properties continued until 1984. A staggering
nasty, and the fact that shards have been excavated as far 20,661 pieces of Chinese ceramics, seven celadons from
away as Beijing indicates that this ware was appreciated not the dynasty Korean Koryo (918–1392), and an unspeci-
only locally but nationally, especially in areas with high fied number of wares from Japan and Southeast Asia
concentrations of Mongol and Muslim inhabitants. 113 In were recovered from eight compartments separated by
particular, shards of Yuxi wares were recovered from a seven watertight bulkheads in the hold of the ship, which
large refuse pit currently believed to have been deposited measures approximately 28.4 meters long by 6.6 meters
during the Zhengde to Jiajing reigns of the Ming dynasty at wide. 117

360 Yuan Dynasty Ceramics