Page 43 - Christie's, Important Chinese Works of Art December 2, 2015 HK

fig. 2 Collection of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeological
Research Institute
gardenia in the centre of the interior, with three fruiting sprays
of pomegranates, persimmons and grapes, accompanied by a tied
bunch of lotus flowers in the cavetto. On the exterior was a
camellia scroll (for a blue on yellow example see Xuande Imperial
Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, op. cit., p. 89, no. 88). The third,
and rarest, of these designs, usually seen on larger dishes, is the
one on the current dish - comprises a flowering peony spray in
the centre of the interior, and in the cavetto six fruiting sprays of
pomegranate, loquat, cherry, persimmon, peach and lychee. On
the exterior is a chrysanthemum scroll (for a blue on white and a
blue on yellow example of this design - both excavated in 1983
- see Xuande Imperial Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, op. cit., p. 86, way, including a stem cup with the design of fish and lotus pond
no. 85-2 (fig. 2), and p. 87, no. 85-3 (fig. 3), respectively, and for
another blue on yellow example, see Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle
and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial
Factory at Jingdezhen, op. cit., pp. 278-9, no. 98). All these examples
are of similar size to the current dish.
A large Xuande dish of the same size and design as the current
dish - also with the design reserved against a blue ground - is in
the collection of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka and has
been designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese
authorities. The Osaka dish is published in Masterpieces of Oriental
Ceramics, Osaka, 1990, p. 71, no. 46 (fig. 4), where the authors
mention examples decorated in similar techniques in the Topkapi
Palace, and similar shards excavated at Zhushan in Jingdezhen, as
well as at the remains of a residence of the Maeda clan (⇵䓘⭞
喑恠), on the grounds of Tokyo University in Japan. One of these
similar dishes is published by Geng Baochang in Ming Qing ciqi
jianding, Beijing, 1988, p. 64, fig. 111 (fig. 5).
The technique of reserving a white design against a cobalt blue
glazed ground can be seen on a number of other vessels excavated
from the Xuande stratum at the imperial kilns. A dish with
fig. 3 Collection of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Archaeological
Research Institute
daylilies in the centre and vegetal scrolls in the cavetto, excavated in
1983, and a dish decorated with fish in a lotus pond was excavated
in 1993 (see Xuande Imperial Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, op. cit.,
p. 84, no. 82-3 (fig. 6) and p. 87, no. 86-1 (fig. 7), respectively).
A similar fish and lotus pond dish is in the collection of the
National Palace Museum, Taipei, as is a bowl decorated using the
same technique and motifs (see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition
of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei,
1998, pp.416-7, no. 181, and pp. 318-9, no. 132, respectively).
While the majority of the vessels decorated in this technique are
dishes or bowls, other forms were occasionally decorated in this
reserved in white against a cobalt blue glaze, which was excavated
in 1984 from the Xuande stratum at the Ming imperial kilns at
Zhushan, Jingdezhen (illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic
Art Unearthed in China – 14 – Jiangxi, Beijing, 2008, p. 180, no. 180).
This stem cup has a four-character underglaze blue mark written
on the underside of the cup inside the foot, which has a clear
glaze. The bases of the bowls and small dishes decorated using this
technique are generally glazed, but the bases of the larger dishes,
like the current example are usually left unglazed and generally
fire to a brownish colour in the kiln.
The technique of reserving a design in white against a blue glaze
was continued occasionally in the Chenghua reign, as in the case
of the bowl with phoenixes amongst clouds, excavated in 1987
from the site of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen (illustrated in
Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China – 14 – Jiangxi,
Beijing, 2008, p. 206, no. 206). Both the six-character Chenghua
mark and its two encircling rings are, like the decoration, reserved
in white against the blue ground. After the Chenghua reign the
technique of using blue glaze to provide the background for white
designs was largely abandoned in favour of underglaze painted
colouration.
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