Page 2 - MARCHANT-Kangxi-Famille-Verte-FINAL

FOREWORD

Eight years ago, Stuart Marchant and I discussed the one can identify pointers on which to help base one’s
possibility of holding this exhibition and, if so, the judgment. For example, channel foot rims are a guideline
direction it would take. We both agreed it should be for dating and are associated with the Shunzhi period to
those two elusive words: “Chinese Taste”. This meant early Kangxi. The dish (no. 1) with a scene from ‘The
the exclusion of porcelain made to order for the Western Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ has this feature and is
market, typically easy to identify with armorial bearings, therefore dated circa 1670.
European shapes, and other European subject matter. Emperor Kangxi during his reign of sixty-one years was
For decades, Kangxi porcelain has been subject to a responsible for a successful and prosperous nation. Many
debate of whether certain pieces were made for export believe he was one of the most important emperors that
or whether they were made for the home market and China has ever had and certainly his reign was the longest
then later exported. The history of prices for Kangxi in Chinese imperial history. He was very highly respected
porcelain is fascinating, being extremely highly valued and his grandson, the Emperor Qianlong, abdicated in
in the early 20th century. At that time, some of the 1795 so that he would not exceed the duration of his
most influential and wealthy gentlemen on both sides grandfather’s reign. Kangxi held the working people in
of the Atlantic collected Kangxi porcelain: in America, very high regard. He was well aware of their hard work
Rockefeller, Frick, Morgan and Mellon; and in England, and the duration of their labors. In 1696, he ordered
Alfred Clark, Leonard Gow, George Eumorfopoulos the court painter Jiao Bingzhen to paint a series of
and George Salting, who later bequeathed his collection pictures from Yu Zhi Geng Zhi Tu, which translates to,
to The Victoria and Albert Museum. Considering this, ‘By Imperial Command: Pictures of Ploughing and
it is certain that many pieces which came to the West Sericulture’. One of these scenes is the subject of the dish
from the Kangxi period were not in fact export ware, (no. 16) and is painted with a poem by Lou Shou (1090-
but rather became exported 200 or 250 years after they 1162 AD) entitled ‘Reeling Silk’. In the translation, the
were made due to the wants of the famous collectors at hardship of the workers is clearly stated. Kangxi had this
the time.
series issued as wood block prints, cut by Zhu Gui. He
Another reason for holding this exhibition is that Stuart also wrote a poem for each of these prints. This dish has
and I have a particular passion for the painting on remarkable provenance, from the collection of Paul and
Kangxi porcelain. We also know that Chinese people are Helen Bernat. It was on loan to the Boston Museum
amongst the most knowledgeable collectors, and it would of Fine Arts; and in 1981, Jan Fontein and Wu Tung
not be long before they recognized some of the greatest published it in the book The World’s Great Collections,
pictorial painting ever produced on Chinese porcelain. Oriental Ceramics, Vol. 10, no. 250. At this point, one has
So we both agreed to the proposal and herewith offer to to ask the question, who ordered this dish and for which
our clientele what we believe to be a unique collection market was it intended? It appears illogical to consider
of famille verte, or as the Chinese would say, wucai. The that an order for a dish such as this would come from
present exhibition is also an appropriate continuation of the West, who would have limited knowledge of the Yu
our last catalogue Kangxi: Underglaze Blue and Copper- Zhi Geng Zhi Tu and would not have any affinity with
Red. As before, we have tried to catalogue all the pieces it. With this in mind, dishes such as these with purely
in chronological order. This is not an easy matter as Chinese taste subject-matter and significance would not
there are only two dated pieces (no. 25 and no. 31). be made for the export market.
The first is a slender baluster vase with a 1701 cyclical
Emperor Kangxi toured the south of China six times.
date (no. 25), and the second is a brush pot dated 1712 th
On his second journey, in the 28 year of his reign
(no. 31). Nevertheless, through study and experience,
(1689), he was reported as saying “the merchants of
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