Page 48 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

Chapter 07 (pp. 330-385)_Layout 1 7/7/10 5:42 PM Page 377

Since these Yuan dramatic sketches were written in the One extraordinary piece of Yuan drama ware was sold
colloquial Chinese, and embellished with song, dance, in 2005 for the highest price paid for a Chinese work of
pantomime, and acrobatics, they appealed to a wide audi- art until that point. 221 Like many “drama scene wares,”
ence. These zaju dramas, as they were sometimes called, the painting on this wine jar recounts part of a story
were performed on stages set up on city streets, or in about Chinese folk heroes based on historical events. It
booths set up in the city or at private residences on the also shows how these true stories were embellished over
occasion of a banquet. A previously mentioned under- the course of time. The inspirational tale derives from the
glaze red and blue porcelain granary, for example, ap- Zhanguo ce (History of the Warring States, compiled about
pears to have a theatrical performance depicted on the 250–8 b.c.e.) and is still performed as a Chinese opera to-
upper story of the building. 216 day. In the ancient history, the great general Yue Yi led
The dramas were usually told in four acts with addi- the army of the small state of Yan in the defeat of the
tional introductions and often included scenes of fight- state of Qi.
ing, providing a good excuse for displays of martial arts. The painted scene depicts a meeting between the Qi
While some of the stories were romantic tales, others emissary Su Dai (active ca. 300 b.c.e.) and the reclusive mil-
were based on legendary or historical characters. Classi- itary strategist Wang Xu (also known as Wang Yi and by
cally educated scholars, unable to use their skills at court, his sobriquet Guigu Zi, or the Master from Demon Valley)
used their literary abilities to greatly improve the quality in an effort to secure the release of Sun Zi (Master Sun),
of these Yuan drama scripts. At court, new hits, as well as who had been captured in a battle with Yue Yi. Wang re-
old standards, were booked for palace venues. Many of putedly mentored Sun, who is most renowned as the au-
the dramas had moral overtones, since the Shundi em- thor of the oldest military treatise in the world, the Sun Zi
peror saw the possibilities of using dramas to educate the Bing Fa (Master Sun’s art of war). 222 The underglaze blue
people to be loyal officials and filial sons. 217 painting is remarkably similar to a woodblock print illus-
Scenes from the most popular dramas were painted by tration from the book Yue Yi Planning the Conquest of Qi (Yue
the potters of Jingdezhen on blue and white created for Yi Tu Qi) published during the Zhizhi reign (1321–1323).
the Shundi emperor, with similar renderings found in On both the jar and the print, Wang Xu is shown seated in
rare editions of Yuan books. Usually figural scenes, some a cart being pulled by two felines. Preceding him are two
of which are identified with Yuan dramas, were painted armed attendants. On the jar, Su Dai in the dress of an of-
on wares of three shapes: the “plum vase” (meiping), large ficial is shown on horseback facing a second equestrian in
covered jar (guan), and less successfully, the pear-shaped military garb leading Wang Xu’s entourage. This soldier
bottle (yuhuchun ping). 218 holds a banner bearing the name Guigu (Demon Valley)
Approximately fifteen pieces of these “drama scene and has tentatively been identified as Dugu Jiao, a power-
wares” are known to have survived. Their quality ranges ful young man who brought an army of about three thou-
from rather average to superb. One in particular comes sand soldiers to join the forces of Qi in order to free the
from the tomb of a man connected with the founder of captives. Historically, there is no suggestion that Guigu Zi
the Ming dynasty, which is one indication of the wide- was a Daoist, but the text of the Yue Yi Tu Qi states that he
spread and continuing popularity of these dramas during was and he is represented as such in the print and on this
the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries (even piece if porcelain. In the woodblock print, his chariot is
though only a small number of the dramas themselves drawn by a pair of tigers, on the jar, a tiger and a leopard.
survive). Another clue to their popularity comes from the This depiction probably arose when between Wang Xu
efforts of early Ming princes to preserve and further this (Guigu Zi) was associated with the third-century Wei dy-
art form. For example, Zhu Su (1361–1425, Prince nasty Daoist Wang Hui, who used tigers and leopards to
Zhouding, the fifth son of the founder of the Ming dy- plough for him as well as saddling them to ride as if they
nasty) recorded in a poem collection that the Yuan drama were horses. 223
form was developed by the thirteenth-century playwright The book containing woodblock illustrations and oth-
Guan Hanqing. 219 And Zhu Yuanzhang’s seventeenth ers like it where produced in quantity at Jian’an in
son, Zhu Quan (1378–1448), who was himself a play- Jianyang region in northern Fujian province, not too far
wright, recorded twelve thematic categories of classic from Jingdezhen. This area became one of the major cen-
Yuan dramas including “nuns and fairies,” “exiled lords ters of woodblock book production during the Song dy-
and orphans,” “erotic love amongst flowers and under nasty and continued to be until the Ming dynasty.
the moon,” and “loyal lords and assassins.” 220 Although the prototype design for the wine jar would

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