Page 14 - Chinese Export Porcelain Art, MET MUSEUM 2003

What distinguishes many of the blue and
white porcelains dating from this first period
of Dutch trade to the close of the Kangxi
period in 1722 is the exceptionally graceful
balance between Western shape and Chinese
decoration. This was an inadvertent harmony,
as the Europeans had little knowledge of-or
interest in-the iconography of the decora-

tion. The literary sources of narrative scenes,
the symbolism of motifs, emblems, even

flora,were attractive simply because of their
exoticism. An allegiance to Chinese imagery
would provide the foundation of the com-
pany trade into the nineteenth century, as we
know from the recovered cargoes of such
ships as the Dutch Geldermalsen (1751), the
Swedish Gotheborg (1752), and the English
Diana (1817), witnesses to the regular ship-
ment of unpretentious porcelains painted
with increasingly standardized Chinese land-
or riverscapes, fauna, and floral sprays. The
European ceramics production complemented
this attraction, artistically and at somewhat
comparable cost, through the chinoiseries of
the faience factories and the derivative blue
and white patterns produced by the German
and English porcelain firms.
With the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 9. Ewer. Chinese (Dutch market), late I7th-early i8th century. Hard paste.
and the onset of the Qing (1644-1911), the H. 63/4 in. (I7.I cm). Mark: yu. Helena Woolworth McCann Collection,
export trade could well have come to an end. Purchase, Winfield Foundation Gift, I979 (I979.284)

Political unrest, which included the destruc-
Blue and white Kangxiporcelains of this lustrous clarity and vivacity of painting
tion of the Jingdezhen kilns in 1675-they
inspired "chinamania" in the i86os, leading to such tributes as James McNeill
were rebuilt within five years-caused a sus-
Whistler's evocation the seventeenth-century "porcelain room, "his Peacock Room of
of
pension of official trade after 1647. But the i876-77, designedfor Frederick and now in the Freer Gallery, Washington,
Leyland
VOC, determined to maintain its foothold and D. C. The mark, yu ('jade"), is one ofseveral symbols used instead of reign marks on
blue and white
to continue supplying an established market, Kangxi exportporcelains.
turned to Japan to fill the void. Trade was
resumed with China after 1680 with signifi-
cant changes for both East and West. Support
by the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662-1722) occa-
sioned a reorganization of the Jingdezhen
kilns, leading to improvements in materials

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