Page 6 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

CHINESE METALWORK,

12TH-18TH CENTURY

The shapes and designs of bronze ritual vessels made during the
Shang and Zhou dynasties, a period recognized as one of the
world's great Bronze Ages, served as primary sources for metal-
work forms throughout Chinese history. Vessels holding food and
wine for ceremonies linking rulers with their ancestors were later
reconfigured as incense burners, flower vases, and other types of
containers for palaces and homes, both as ceremonial parapher-
nalia and luxury goods.
The traditional forms were augmented during the fourth to
the sixth century by the introduction of different types of cups, plates,
bowls, and other utensils from the eastern Mediterranean, Iran,
and Central Asia cast or beaten in gold and in silver. In this period

large parts of northern China were under control of rulers with
commercial or political ties to these regions. Shapes and techniques
used in foreign gold- and silversmithing were adapted to Chinese
taste during the Tang dynasty, mainly to appeal to the court and the
aristocracy. Silver and gold objects continued to be manufactured
after the Tang dynasty, but few examples are preserved because
such wares were often melted down to reuse the precious metals.

Foreign influence also contributed to the development of cloi-
sonne during the early fourteenth to fifteenth century and to that
of painted enamels in the seventeenth. The earliest securely dated
Chinese cloisonne, in which colored-glass paste is applied within
metal enclosures and fired, dates from the reign of the Ming
Xuande emperor (1426--35). However, cloisonne is recorded dur-
ing the previous Yuan dynasty, and it has been suggested that the
was introduced to China at that time via the western
technique
province of Yunnan, which under Mongol rule received an influx
of Islamic people. A very few cloisonne objects, including the
small dish with a scalloped rim in the Metropolitan's collection
(see p. 15), have been dated on stylistic grounds to the Yongle reign
(I403-24) of the early Ming dynasty. Cloisonne objects were
intended primarily for the furnishing of temples and palaces,
because their flamboyant splendor seemed appropriate to the
function of these structures but was not considered as well suited
for a more restrained atmosphere, such as that of a scholar's home.
Painted enamels also employ colored glass on a metal surface,
but the designs are painted freehand rather than contained. The
technique, developed in France during the fifteenth century, was
imported into China during the seventeenth century. In addition
to painted enamels produced in palace workshops, a significant
number of pieces were made in Canton for trade to the West.
DPL