Page 240 - Jindezhen Porcelain Production of the 19th C. by Ellen Huang, Univ. San Diego 2008

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Doubei tang ji 鬬 ؎ੀা (Record of Collecting Wine Cups), he stressed the

meaninglessness of attaining self-centered goals. The essay encapsulates his meticulous

collection of porcelain cups and the tender care with which he examined each one and its

history. He “constructed a tang [room or hall], in order to chu ஈ [place] vessels there.

Outside the room, on a bamboo strip, [he] carved a name given to the room: ‘doubei ৸

؎’ to commemorate a year’s worth of successful harvest in a place of rest.” Despite the

comprehensiveness and exquisite quality of his entire porcelain collection, Chen had no

desire to use his expertise or porcelain acquisitions for self affirmation at the cost of

social division. He rejected the competition and selfish ambition that emerged from

pride and arrogance. At the end of his essay, he concluded,

there were those who said my worldly success stemmed
from my own insight. What have I pursued and not
achieved? However, to imitate those immersed in [personal]
achievement and for the sole sake of competing like those
scholars and laborers over the superior or inferior qualities
of each ou [drink vessel] and wan [bowl], is this not an
absolute delusion?” A human’s life seeks joy and that’s it.
Even if you have a reputation and fame, after you die, you
are alone, lonely and forgotten by the world. I, as an old
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man, would not like to exchange the former for the latter.

In setting up such a contrast, Chen seemed to be inscribing intellectual value into

collecting antiques and objects and drew attention away from the derision of leisure to

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which it was previously attributed. Moreover, he establishes the lack of social morality

in egocentric behavior. In his conception, aesthetic collection still brings about joy but

more important is the connoisseur who does not seek self-elevation. In conjunction with

his desire to develop substantive connoisseurship over monetary profit as expressed in

Tao Ya, Chen’s appreciation for the revealed collections of the Qing emperor that had