Page 37 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 366

Yuan White Ware Porcelain Produced at Jingdezhen
nasty. Those chosen to retain their craftsmen status by
the vice-governor of the province, Zhang Hui, after the Although other white ware kilns, such as the Ding site
fall of Lin’an, were considered among the most skilled in Quyang county, Hebei province, were closer to the
100,000 households of a total of 300,000 Song artisan Mongol capitals than was Jingdezen, the Mongols chose
households living south of the Yangtze River. 147 for their imperial ware the pure white of Jingdezhen ce-
ramics over the ivory-toned Ding wares. Here three types
Jingdezhen’s Private Kilns
of white wares made at Jingdezhen will be discussed: qing-
A Southern Song account of the porcelain industry bai, Taixi, and shufu, including shufu-style wares.
provides information about the regulation of Qingbai ware was the porcelain with a clear bluish-green
Jingdezhen’s private kilns. Each was registered according glaze first made during the Song dynasty, with the best pre-
to its production capacity, employment potential, and sented to the emperor as tribute. The thirteenth-century
“approved sizes of vessels,” with dues payable to provin- travelogue authored or compiled by Marco Polo docu-
cial and county governments. The kilns could only be mented what many believe were wares very much like the
fired after paying a fee. Fines were imposed for abusing qingbai of Jingdezhen: “The most beautiful vessels and
the system or if government orders were not filled within plates of porcelain, large and small, that one could de-
the specified time. Despite unofficial extraction of fees, scribe, are made in great quantity . . . in a city near this city
the kilns thrived. Even flawed wares were saleable. 148 [Fuzhou], . . . and on all sides they are most valued, for
Marco Polo, recounting his adventures in China at the none are made in another place beyond this city, and from
end of the thirteenth century, colorfully recounted the there they are carried to many places throughout the
preparation of the clay used to produce porcelain, world.” 153 As stated previously, whether Marco Polo actu-
whereby a craftsman reserved untouched a mound of ally traveled to China has been called into question. There-
“mud and rotten earth” for thirty years for the use of the fore, any identification of the cities such as of “Fuzhou”
next generation of his family. “The said earth being for must be treated with caution. 154 Nevertheless, qingbai
such a long time in those mounds is so worked up that wares continued to be made during the fourteenth cen-
the bowls made of it have the color of azure, and they are tury. Perhaps the most famous example of Yuan qingbai
very shiny and most beautiful beyond measure.” 149 porcelain is the so-called Gaignières-Fonthill vase (see Fig.
The Mongols valued artisans, so artisans enjoyed a status 10.42). The vase is the earliest recorded piece of Chinese
denied under Chinese rule. Under Mongol law craftsmen porcelain in Europe. It first appeared in the collection of
were allowed to privately produce and sell wares once quo- Louis the Great of Hungary, who probably received it as a
tas had been met. An account of 1363 seems to indicate that gift in 1338 when a Chinese embassy passed through his
officials indeed came to supervise the production of impe- kingdom on its way to visit Pope Benedict XII. In 1381 the
rial wares every year, but once production was complete, king had this yuhuchun bottle richly mounted as a gift for
these artisans were free to engage in their own commerce. 150 Charles III of Naples. Its enduring appeal is evident from
Private kiln wares could resemble imperial wares, with the its subsequent owners, all of whom were discerning collec-
exception of motifs and materials reserved for the emperor. tors: the Duc de Berry, the Grand Dauphin (son of Louis
Jingdezhen remained the site of imperial kilns until the XIV), and William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey. It is often
end of the Qing dynasty in 1911, even after the clay from referred to simply as the Fonthill vase; François Roger de
Gaolin Hill was depleted. 151 Porcelain clay from Gaolin Gaignières was an artist who rendered a drawing of the
(High Ridge) near Jingdezhen and a feldspathic material work with its mount intact around 1713–1715. During the
mined in the vicinity were used to produce the finest clay, nineteenth century its enameled silver-gilt mounts were re-
which was reserved for the imperial kiln. Particularly se- moved and lost. The vase is now in the National Museum
vere penalties were imposed for defiance. 152 The name of Ireland. This piece and a related faceted yuhuchun bottle
Imperial Clay Kiln itself expresses the significance of the in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum mimic
white clay of Gaolin. In addition to its color, the porce- silver and gold vessels. 155 Details such as the pearl stand
lain of Jingdezhen was notable for its strength due to its beading, too, are thought to be related to late-thirteenth-
high firing temperature. Jingdezhen continues to be the century qingbai figures in the Capital Museum in Beijing,
most important kiln site in China. The city of more than The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Nelson-Atkins
one million residents devotes itself to producing both re- Museum of Art. 156
productions and new designs using alternative sources of White wares either had a transparent or semitranspar-
porcelain clay located nearby. ent glaze that is sometimes referred to as “mutton fat.”

366 Yuan Dynasty Ceramics