Page 32 - For the Love of Porcelain

lead glazes, were in all probability made for lions in the early years of the twentieth
small shrines or domestic altars. Another century, and they are displayed in her home,
kiln area that specialised in the manufacture Preston Manor, in Brighton.
9
of porcelain lion joss-stick holders during
the late Ming dynasty was Dehua in Fujian By the eighteenth century the export trade
province. Recent excavation of sixteenth- in ceramics was well established to many
and seventeenth-century kilns there yielded countries in Europe, based on both private
sherds with features similar to those of the trade and regular shipments by the various
lions depicted in figs. 4, 5 and 6. Excavators East India Companies. This was an age
6
reckon that Lingdou kiln, for example, was when millions of items of domestic crockery
part of the burgeoning export trade that were shipped, among them decorative
took place between about 1590 and 1640. figurines. The finest-quality figurines were
often private orders, but more run-of-the-
Shipwreck finds, for example, the so-called mill items were mass-produced, such as the
Hatcher cargo of c. 1645, also make it two famille rose joss-stick holders in figs.
apparent that by the seventeenth century, 10 and 11. Their decoration in overglaze
Dehua porcelain Buddhist lions were made enamels would have made them more
for export, in addition to those supplied expensive, even though the modelling of
to the domestic market. 7 The collection at the lions is perfunctory. In many ways
Boughton House in Northamptonshire, they resemble seventeenth-century Dehua
a stately home with rich art collections, models, although their lavish colouring was
contains a large number of Dehua porcelain better suited to European taste than chaste
10-11 pieces, among them four matched pairs white Blanc de Chine.
Pair of lions on plinths, of lions. Family tradition maintains
Qing dynasty, c. 1750, that the pieces were left to John, 2nd It can be seen that ceramic models of
h. 23.2 cm, 22.8 cm, Duke of Montagu (1690–1749), by his Buddhist lions were made in many kilns, and
XLVIII:XI: famous mother-in-law Sarah, Duchess of had several functions. Some acted as mounts
inv. nos. C.h.b.23 and Marlborough (1660–1744). Sarah married for Buddhist deities, while others were
C.h.b.24 into wealth in 1678 and started collecting placed on altars and used as incense holders.
then. 8 In more modern times Dehua lions In addition to these domestic uses, they
Models of Buddhist lions are invariably front of imperial palaces, imperial tombs, were favoured by women like Lady Ellen were also supplied in considerable quantities
whimsical, and sometimes downright government offices, temples, and the homes Thomas-Stanford (1848–1932), a close for export to the West. Their humorous
comical. Often called ‘Foo Dogs’ in the of government officials and the wealthy. contemporary of Countess Wilhelmina von appearance and their resemblance to pet
West, they were in fact representations of The lions are usually depicted in pairs, the Hallwyl. Lady Ellen amassed 124 Buddhist dogs ensured their enduring popularity.
guardian lions. Lions were unknown in male resting his paw on an embroidered
China, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties ball (in imperial contexts, representing illustrations courtesy of the Hallwyl museum, Stockholm.
the beasts had come to resemble Pekinese supremacy over the world) and the female
dogs. Hence their Western name, though in restraining a playful cub that is on its back
Chinese they are never referred to as ‘dogs’. (representing nurture). The iconography
The notion of guardian lions came to China was replicated in much smaller porcelain
Notes
along with Buddhism during the mid-Han figurines, mass-produced for popular use.
dynasty. Both religion and iconography Thus those who did not have appropriate
1 Rose Kerr, Asian Ceramics in the Hallwyl 4 Lazlo Legeza, ‘Decorative Roof Ceramics in 8 Rose Kerr, ‘The Blanc de Chine Porcelain’,
travelled from India, where lions existed and status and wealth to possess large sculptures Collection, Stockholm, 2015. Chinese Architecture’, Arts of Asia (May-June in Tessa Murdoch (ed.), Boughton House,
represented protection of dharma (religious of lions, could access their protective powers 2 Rose Kerr, ‘Traditional and Conservative Styles 1982), pp. 105–11. The English Versailles, London 1992, pp. 148–51.
in the Ceramic Art of China’, Style in the East 5 Rose Kerr, ‘Celestial Creatures. Chinese Tiles 9 Sarah Cheang, ‘”My Kylins”: The Blanc de
and moral law), and were placed at the foot in a miniaturised form.
Asian Tradition. Colloquies on Art and in the Victoria and Albert Museum’, Apollo Chine Lions at Preston Manor, Brighton’,
of the thrones on which Buddhist statues sat. Archaeology in Asia 14, pp. 169–81, pl. 14. (March 1999), pp. 15–21, pl. 11. Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society 69
In China the Emperor, as ruler of Heaven, One way that small lion figurines functioned 3 Dominic Jellinek, ‘The Bluett Archive: 6 叶文程 Ye Wencheng (ed.), 中国福建古瓷: (2004–5), pp. 37–42.
A Curious Acquisition’, Transactions of the 德化窑 Chinese Fujian Ancient Ceramics:
chose lion images to guard his doors and was as altar vessels, in particular as containers Oriental Ceramic Society 77 (2012–13), pp. Dehua Yao 2, p. 85.
gates, and by the Ming dynasty this privilege for incense sticks. Porcelain models, such as 1–12. 7 Colin Sheaf and Richard Kilburn, The Hatcher
had spread through the upper echelons of the pair of lions in figs. 5 and 6 that were Porcelain Cargoes. The Complete Record,
Oxford 1988, pp. 72–73.
society. Statues of guardian lions stood in made at Jingdezhen and glazed with brilliant

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