Page 4 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 333

7.1. Khubilai Khan Hunting, hanging scroll made with ink
and color on silk by Liu Guandao, 1280, Yuan dynasty,
182.9 cm x 104.1 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

This scan is 120%.

Northern Song kilns producing Cizhou-type wares (dis- and a glassy pea green glaze attributed to the second to
cussed later), and the other Yuan kilns producing wares third quarter of the fourteenth century and now in the col-
other than white porcelain. Production at the Longquan lection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Fig. 7.6). Aus-
kilns declined greatly during the Ming dynasty, in part due tere Song Longquan wares were slowly transformed to
to the loss of imperial patronage and heavy taxes. By the more lively works, often embellished with exuberant or ca-
Qing period, only a handful of kilns were supplying low- sual decorations such as the occasional use of copper red
quality ceramics to local clients. Indeed, production at or the more common application of iron brown spots, as
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Longquan has only recently revived. 7 seen on appliqués, animal or bird handles, or a pear-shaped
Of 239 ceramics discovered in the largest cache of Yuan (yuhuchun) bottle (Fig. 7.7). Floral designs dominated, and
ceramics unearthed in China to date, at Gao’an in Jiangxi were incised, stamped, or molded and applied to the sur-
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province, 169 were Longquan celadons widely believed to face of the vessel (Fig. 7.8). New applied motifs, such as
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be a princely hoard buried between 1341 and 1351. The the dragon, joined that of the Southern Song fish, still in
most significant find of Yuan celadons outside of China is use early in the Yuan period. Sometimes applied motifs
the Sinan (sometimes Shinan) shipwreck discovered in 1976 were left unglazed, with reddish biscuit-fired molded ap-
off the coast of South Korea. Again the number of pliqué or unglazed reserve designs complementing the
Longquan wares surpasses that of other ceramic works. Of olive green glaze so often seen on Yuan wares. Often these
20,611 pieces brought up from the shipwreck, 12,359 were early Yuan Longquan celadons had stockier proportions
celadons, and most of these were from Longquan (see Fig. than those of the Song period.
7.2). The style of these celadons is much like that seen in a The use in Longquan wares of iron brown underglaze,
gorgeous jar with lotus-leaf cover as well as a stunning vase which is most commonly applied in generous randomly
(Fig. 7.5; see also Fig. 7.3). The shipping tags indicate that located spots, may have begun as underglaze decoration
this vessel sailed from China in the year 1323. 9 became popular at Jingdezhen in the 1320s. It is possible
At the early fourteenth-century Baita village site within that one kiln influenced the other or that underglaze dec-
the city limits of Huhhot in Inner Mongolia, too, a variety oration in use at both kilns reflected a popular taste for
of large Longquan temple vases were recovered, some more ornamentation. Field studies at various Longquan
with incised decor and others with carved and molded de- kilns have also yielded examples of characters written in
signs. 10 The finest and most published examples of iron pigment under the celadon glaze, some of which
Longquan celadons from this site are baluster vases with conveyed auspicious wishes for long life, happiness, and
carved or molded decorations much like those on the su- wealth. Vessels with inscriptions in Phagspa script, an al-
perb example pictured in Figure 7.3. A well-known exam- phabet created for Khubilai Khan by the Tibetan Lama
ple from Sir Percival David’s collection, a massive temple Phagspa, have also been found, indicating that Longquan
vase with the ground carved away to leave the peony scroll wares continued to be used in the Mongol court.
in low relief, bears a dedicatory inscription that refers to a There do not appear to be any surviving intact exam-
year equivalent to 1327. 11 ples of underglaze cobalt decorated wares to comple-
The shift at Longquan from Song classicism to Yuan ment these examples of underglaze iron and (less
exuberance was gradual, and culminated with a gorgeous commonly) copper-spot glazes. Rare finds of cobalt dec-
octagonal vase with biscuit panels of the Eight Immortals orated wares at Longquan kilns have been noted, but the

Yuan Dynasty Ceramics 333