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