Page 14 - Six treasures of IMpeerial Art Sothebys Hong Kong April 3 2019
P. 14

WINTERGREEN –
                   AN AUSPICIOUS COLOUR



                   REGINA KRAHL



                   ‘Wintergreen’ (dongqing) is undoubtedly one of the rarest
                   and most enchanting porcelain glaze colours developed by
                   the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen. As a more poetic alternative
                   for the word ‘evergreen’, ‘wintergreen’ and is used in China
                   to identify many different plants, in particular the Chinese
                   ilex, a plant also known as wannianzhi (‘ten thousand year
                   branches’). The term – and the colour – thus reverberate
                   with good wishes for a long life.
                   The Yongle reign (1403-1424) is noted for the dramatic
                   changes and innovations introduced to China’s porcelain
                   production, as the kilns came under direct supervision from
                   the court. No other reign, except perhaps the Yongzheng
                   period three centuries later (1723-1735), is marked by such
                   an abundance of new shapes, styles, colours and designs,
                   a sea change so fundamental, that thereafter no real
                   innovation took place for centuries.
                   The subtle pale green hue that makes the particular charm
                   of ‘wintergreen’ appears to have been devised to echo the
                   sea-green tone of the finest contemporary celadon wares
                   from the Longquan kilns. In the Yongle period, the kilns of
                   Jingdezhen in Jiangxi and those of Longquan in Zhejiang
                   were working side by side to specifications from the court,
                   but not in direct competition with each other. While both kiln
                   centres were recruited to produce the large, sturdy vessels
                   that were intended to be sent abroad as diplomatic gifts, the
                   Jiangxi workshops alone, with their pure white body material
                   and their more exacting potting, glazing and firing, appear
                   to have been in the business of supplying the court with the
                   refined smaller vessels the Emperor might have come in
                   direct contact with, such as this stem bowl.
                   Stem bowls of less distinctive shape and much cruder
                   workmanship had been produced at both kiln centres at
                   least since the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), and those from
                   Longquan kilns often already showed the bamboo-node
                   detail at the stem, but simply indicated by two incised
                   parallel lines (see Zhu Boqian, Longquan yao qingci/
                   Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, pls 199 and
                   200). Yet, these predecessors have little in common
                   with Yongle stem bowls such as the present piece. The
                   strict supervision from the court caused not only an
                   unprecedented refinement of material and craftsmanship,
                   but also introduced a very intentional calibration of
                   proportions, probably due to a design emanating from
                   the drawing board rather than directly from the potter’s
                   wheel. The superb silhouette of the present piece, and its
                   remarkable even colouration, with a subtle natural gradation
                   where it pools and contrasting white edges where it drains,
                   are features that we have come to expect from Yongle
                   imperial porcelain.
   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19