Page 35 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 364

in accordance with the account by Yuan scholar Wang
Yun (1227–1302) in On the Establishment of Craftsmen in
Xuanshanzhu Bureau and Others—where he noted that in
every craftsman household “men learned a handicraft
and woman learned to embroider.” The Bureau of Impe-
rial Manufactures, which comprised twenty-one depart-
ments, was established to coordinate the activities of
artisans engaged in production of luxury items for the
palace (such as jewels, ivory, and textiles), and was re-
sponsible for passing orders to the kiln. 136
Around the ninth year of the Zhiyuan reign (1272), the
Ministry of Works set up an official ranking system for
departments that organized as many as two thousand or
more households to as few as one hundred households.
They were managed by a highly stratified and complex
organization of officials whose position within the sys-
tem corresponded to the size of the work force they su-
pervised. 137 The head of the Bureau of Imperial
Manufactures received an upper second rank, an indica-
tion of its importance, and the highly respected Nepalese
sculptor Anige (1245–1306) was one of its early directors.
The Fuliang Porcelain Office was under the authority of
a Directorate General for Precious Metals and Jewel Arti-
Need to replace with
sans in Various Circuits, one of only three subordinates
C&C’s lo-res scan
to the director of the entire bureau. 138 When necessary,
representatives from the Directorate General Office un-
7.44. Glazed porcelain qingbai Guanyin bodhisattva, Yuan doubtedly carried designs and orders to the kiln.
dynasty, ca. 1298, 51.44 cm tall x 30.48 cm wide x 19.69 cm deep. The Fuliang Porcelain Office, in collaboration with
Made at Jingdezhen. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, other departments, produced porcelain for the court in
Missouri.
concert with other important suppliers and distributors
within the system. The painting office designed the
shapes and decorations for the potters, as they did for the
Marco Polo, visiting China during Khubilai’s reign, weavers and every department under the directorates
recorded that lunar New Year’s Day was “White Day” in general. From the official shipping and receiving store-
the Yuan dynasty. On that day it was customary for the house the porcelain office received valuable commodi-
Khan and his subjects to “wear the white dresses” and ties, such as cobalt ore for painting and gold foil for
“present the white gifts to each other within their fami- overglaze application. Each of these two supporting of-
lies.” Every province and kingdom paid a tribute of gold fices had three hundred or more of their own craftsmen.
wares, silverwares, gems, and white cloth to the Grand The size of the porcelain office can be estimated using
Khan. Whether Marco Polo actually visited China from information from the Yuan shi (the official history of the
1275 to 1292, as recounted in Il Millione, also known as Yuan dynasty). The office was described there as com-
The Travels of Marco Polo, is controversial. At the very least, prising about one hundred households. If these house-
however, the book seems to be a compilation based on holds averaged four members evenly divided between
original accounts. 135 men and women, there would have been only about two
hundred men producing porcelain, while their wives and
Organization of the Yuan Imperial Kiln
daughters wove hats. This estimated workforce is smaller
Households of artisans staffed the imperial kiln, which by a third than the number of craftsmen working at the
was also known as the Fuliang Porcelain Office. Males imperial factory at Jingdezhen during the Jiajing reign of
manufactured porcelain, while females produced lac- the Ming dynasty (1522–1566). 139 Though minor in size
quered hats woven from horsehair, palm fiber, and rattan and rank, the porcelain office was important. More de-

364 Yuan Dynasty Ceramics