Page 6 - Yuan Dynasty Ceramics

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7.5. Longquan ware celadon jar with lotus-leaf cover, Yuan dynasty, 30.5 cm tall with cover.
Topkapi Palace Museum.

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origins of these wares could not be verified. A crackled, era Longquan wares. Other related vases such as the ex-
rice-yellow glaze on a unique Ge-type bottle with under- ample with a dated inscription in the Sir Percival David
glaze copper red phoenix decoration, however, appears Collection and those in datable finds in Inner Mongolia
similar to that seen on Yuan Ge-style wares recovered at (1309) and from the earlier-mentioned 1323 shipwreck
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the Dayao kiln site. Like the eleventh-century under- near Sinan, Korea, point to a wide variety in motifs and
glaze blue ceramics of the Belitung shipwreck, this bottle decorative techniques, from molded to incised, as well as
had also found its way to Indonesia, where a preference quality that ranged from ordinary to spectacular. 16
in the fourteenth century for underglaze decorated wares Over time, the exquisite, icy “kingfisher” blue green
is well documented in early fifteenth-century travelogues. glaze that Cao Zhao preferred was eclipsed by the less aes-
In 1349, Wang Dayuan wrote about the ceramic prefer- thetically pleasing olive green wares associated with the
ences of various places he visited, and over the next Yuan dynasty. This popular, thick-walled style was the re-
eighty-seven years, both Ma Huan (fl. 1413–1451) and sult of using cheaper, less-refined raw materials, a single
Fei Xin (ca. 1436) recorded the desirability of blue and thin coat of glaze, and larger, less carefully regulated kilns.
white in present-day Java, Sumatra, Arabia, Thailand, and Decorated and undecorated bowls were the main
India, with Ma Huan noting it was most prized in pres- products of the Yuan Longquan kilns, which used an
ent-day Java, where a Yuan underglaze red bottle made in unglazed ring in the well of the kiln for stacking and to al-
the Ge style is preserved in the Pustat Museum. 15 low the firing of large quantities of pottery at one time.
Remnants of large, finely potted “baluster” vases with The most common bowls, which were both exported
lustrous blue green glaze, and which are a type thought to and purchased by the domestic public, were of coarse
have been used as temple vases, have been excavated quality, and their decorations included stamped designs
around the Dayao kiln, which apparently had the most of chrysanthemums and peonies. Other products of the
skilled artisans and best materials in the area. The color Longquan kilns included familiar bottles and incense
of some, such as the little-known but beautifully fired ex- burners, as well as stem cups and stem bowls, which were
ample in the Detroit Institute of Arts, rivals that of Song- new shapes possibly influenced by Jingdezhen wares. 17

Yuan Dynasty Ceramics 335