Page 81 - For the Love of Porcelain

4a
Detail of the anhua
dish of ig. 1

3a also other imperial examples that exhibit sacrificial rites for them. Yongle ordered
Large white glazed dish, such ‘errors’ but do have an imperial mark, dishes with an anhua decoration especially
Jingdezhen, Ming and it is assumed they were used by the for these occasions and this is probably one
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dynasty, Yongle period court. Our vase is another example that was of them.
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(1403 - 24), porcelain, not smashed after it was removed from the
anhua decoration, oven. The object resurfaced centuries later Later porcelain for the imperial dead
Ø. 43.5 cm, collection in the Sangihe Islands in the Indonesian Anhua decorations were certainly not
and photo/drawing: Archipelago. There, the vase was purchased limited to Yongle-period imperial porcelain;
Museum Princessehof by a Rotterdam antiques dealer and in 1935 later emperors also had pieces manufactured
Leeuwarden, acquired by Nanne Ottema (1874–1955), with such decorations. The all-white dishes
inv. no. OKS 1974-23, the founder of the Princessehof. 4 Under with anhua decorations seem to have been 4b, c
on loan from the Ottema Yongle large maritime expeditions explored specially made for sacrificial rituals for the Detail of the anhua
Kingma Foundation Southeast Asia, and porcelain was among emperors’ ancestors. 7 Like his predecessor decoration of ig. 1 on the
the gifts the Chinese presented to local Yongle, Emperor Hongxi (1424–25) ordered outside; the incised mark
rulers. This vase may have been one of these. white dishes for such use from the imperial is just visible under the
3b The second piece of porcelain that was central workshops. In both cases the dishes had glaze
Drawing of the anhua to the Ming exhibition was a large white dish anhua decorations of dragons and phoenixes,
decoration on the inside that is also dated to the reign of Yongle but among others. As a motif, the combination
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of the plate is also unmarked (fig. 3a). Although at first of dragons and phoenixes was therefore not
sight the dish might appear to be somewhat strictly reserved for the imperial family;
uninteresting, closer scrutiny reveals an it was also used as such on ritual vessels
exuberant incised floral decoration. This for the imperial dead. These vessels were
nearly invisible adornment is referred to as used in both the imperial ancestors’ sacred
an anhua, or ‘hidden decoration’. On this shrines in the Forbidden City as well as in
dish it consists of flower scrolls: flowers were the tomb complexes of the Ming emperors
used as offerings to the ancestors. Yongle in Changping, now a suburb of Beijing at workshops for use in rituals in the seven dragons between flames and clouds, while
came to power through a coup, which added the foot of the mountains north of the city. 8 imperial tombs in Changping. Sources the sides and centre of the dishes have two
to the uncertainty surrounding his divine Jiajing (1522–66) was another Ming indicate that in the subsequent year, 1,510 incised dragons. An incised six-character
origin, and this was one of the reasons he emperor for whom such white porcelain white dishes and wine cups were available mark shows the name of ‘the great Ming
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built a temple for his deceased parents. In with an anhua decoration was produced. for ceremonial use. A number of collections emperor’ Jiajing, 10 but it is not known
1407 and 1413 he sent for the highest- In the sixteenth year of his reign (1537), he have white dishes with a central anhua whether these dishes were part of the 1537
ranking Buddhist Tibetan lamas to perform ordered dishes and bowls from the imperial decoration of a pair of winged, five-clawed order.

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