Page 28 - 2020 October 8 HK Fine Classical Paintings

TOWARDS A DISTINCTIVE STYLE
A SUPERB CHENGHUA VASE

Blue and white wares of the Chenghua period are extremely rare.
Even rarer are those of such exceptional quality, upright form and
large size. Chenghua porcelain in general displays a very distinct
character both in terms of material and style of decoration. Initially
heavily influenced by the attractive style of the Xuande reign,
the Chenghua potters gradually developed their own distinctive
sophisticated style by making a deliberate move away from earlier
models, perhaps most evident in the idiosyncratic forms and designs
they developed. The present vase is a fine and unique example
of such transformation; while its motifs and form are rooted in
traditions established from the beginning of the Ming dynasty, they
are presented in an unusual yet strikingly elegant manner. Veiled with
a lustrous silky glaze, this vase can be identified as a mid-Chenghua
period creation. ‘Softer’ to the touch than its predecessors, it marks fig. 1
A blue and white ‘lotus’ double-gourd vase, Ming dynasty, Chenghua
a departure from the crisp and glossy glazes of the finest Xuande period
wares and towards the muted, velvety glaze of the famous Chenghua © Palace Museum, Beijing
palace bowls. 圖一
The depiction of the lotus on this vase, with voluminous blooms 明成化 青花纏枝蓮紋葫蘆瓶
© 北京故宮博物院
occasionally accentuated by a ruyi head in the centre, closely follows
earlier examples from the interregnum period. The tones of the
cobalt used on interregnum porcelain, however, are oftentimes
greyer than their Chenghua counterparts. See a double-gourd vase The minor alterations to the classic yuhuchun form result in a
decorated with a similar continuous scroll of lotus excavated from decidedly different product. The shape was favoured by the Hongwu
the Ming imperial kiln site in 2014, dated to the Zhengtong period and Emperor and subsequently adorned with a variety of decorative
included in the exhibition Refilling the Interregnum: Newly Discovered bands, a style that continued to be developed and modified in the
Imperial Porcelains from Zhengtong, Jingtai and Tianshun Reigns succeeding Yongle and Xuande reigns. The elegant silhouette of
(1436-1464) of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2019, cat. no. 22. the present vase is achieved through two modifications from its
With these new archaeological discoveries, some of the ceramics predecessors: a taller splayed foot with a countersunk stepped
traditionally attributed to the Chenghua period can probably be base and a slightly higher swell of the body. To complement its
re-dated to the interregnum period. A closely related double-gourd streamlined form, the craftsman has skilfully incorporated white
vase in the Tokyo National Museum, for instance, is now believed to negative space as an important design element in order to capture an
be from the Zhengtong period (ibid., pp. 33-35, fig. 41), but another overall fresh sense of harmony and modernity.
example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, attributed to the Chenghua It is notable that the trio of bands on the neck, namely the tightly
period by Geng Baochang in Ming Qing ciqi jiandin [Appraisal of Ming drawn stiff leaves, the foliate scroll and ruyi heads, is rarely found on
and Qing Porcelains] (Hong Kong, 1993, fig. 167) remains categorised Ming vases yet was adopted as the standard design for yuhuchunping
as Chenghua in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Chenghua in the in the 18th century; only one other Yongle vase adorned with a similar
Ming Dynasty I, Beijing, 2016, pl. 9 (fig. 1). scheme, its body painted with a garden of banana leaves, bamboo
The design of the plantain leaves and the double-outlined lingzhi and rocks, appears to have been published, from the Qing court
scroll collaring the neck of the present vase is reminiscent of earlier collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and included
ceramics. A meiping decorated with vibrant double-outlined foliate in the Museum’s exhibition Imperial Porcelains from the reigns of
scrolls between plantain leaves, was excavated together with its Hongwu and Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, 2015, cat. no. 103. Notably,
cover, and published in Refilling the Interregnum, op.cit., cat. no. this Yongle vase also has a short flared foot, which is more akin to
21. A closely related pair of meiping, with glaze and cobalt closer to that of the present vase and notably distinct from the commonly
the Xuande type, is preserved in private hands. The pair from the used straight foot.
collection of Robert C. Bruce, was sold in our London rooms, 12th Chenghua period vessels are rare, with the majority of extant
May 1953, lot 87, one of which last sold in these rooms, 8th October examples consisting of smaller utility vessels such as bowl and
2010, lot 2622, the other entered the British Rail Pension Fund and dishes. Liu Xinyuan describes the volume of fragments recovered
sold in these rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 18. from the site of the Ming imperial kilns at Zhushan, Jingdezhen,
Each concise yet freely painted stroke is visible on the decoration Jiangxi province, where the Chenghua fragments equal less than
of this vase and reflects the intentional and derivative nature of the half those unearthed from the Xuande stratum, even though the
changing aesthetic of the era. By the mid-15th century, the supply of latter period was much shorter (see Liu Xinyuan, ‘Reconstructing
Lajiward cobalt that for decades had been imported from the Middle Chenghua Porcelain from Historical Records’, The Emperor’s Broken
East was nearing exhaustion. As a result, the government began china: Reconstructing Chenghua Porcelain, Sotheby’s London, 1995,
to mine the domestic Bo Tang mine in Jingdezhen. This elegant p. 11).
mid-hue pigment, with multiple rich and light distinct layers, was For other large vessels made in the Chenghua period, see a bottle
distinctively different from the deep and intense colour characteristic vase painted with phoenix among lotus scrolls attributed to the late
of early-Ming porcelain. Ink-like in texture and more even than the Chenghua period, published in The Emperor’s Broken china, op.cit.,
foreign type, the pigment was devoid of ‘heaping and piling’; thus pl. 47, together with a fragmentary ewer, painted in vivid cobalt blue
designs that highlighted the beauty of this type of cobalt were and attributed to the mid Chenghua period, pl. 48. Compare also a
developed. The individually rendered lotus petals and the carefully meiping and a jar, both painted with plantain leaves and attributed to
shaded stiff leaves of the present piece point to the control craftsmen the Chenghua period, included in Geng Baochang, op.cit., pp. 88-89,
were able to exert over the medium, and the resulting ink painting figs 150 and 152.
effect they were able to achieve.
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