Page 82 - For the Love of Porcelain

6a, b
Bowl, Jingdezhen, Ming
dynasty, Longqing mark
and period
(1566 - 1572),
porcelain, decorated in
the painting of a red and green enamelled underglaze blue,
decoration in one of Jingdezhen’s red shops. Ø 15cm, bowl
These workshops had muffle kilns where collected in Cambodia,
they low-fired the enamelled decorations. private collection
They could not manufacture porcelain,
but obtained the objects from producers in
Jingdezhen. For such, often small businesses,
5 An ‘imperial’ dish with a minyao decoration underneath the partially worn ‘secondary’ the ‘semi-finished’ porcelain was probably
Large dish, Jingdezhen, The preceding discussion forms the context painting on both the front and back (fig. their largest investment and their use of
Ming dynasty, Jiajing for the dish that is central to this contribution. 4c). In fact, we are dealing here with two B-choice products as base material was likely
period (1522 - 66), It has a similar anhua decoration (fig. 1), different ‘products’: imperial porcelain with for economic reasons.
porcelain, decorated in which, unusually, is concealed beneath an an anhua decoration that was over-painted
overglaze red and green, overglaze red and green depiction of Chinese with an overglaze red and green decoration As the dish discussed here shows, due to
Ø 39 cm, private ladies in a garden. The application of this at a private workshop. On art historical the low firing temperature the decoration The dish in a broader context
collection, photo Walter second decoration originated in one of the grounds both stages of production could be is vulnerable and hardly longwearing. The question that now arises is: how could
Lensink private ‘red shops’ set up in Jingdezhen placed in the same period. This type of red- Customers of this type of porcelain an imperial B-choice product end up in a
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around the middle of the sixteenth century. shop decoration is usually dated to around apparently did not object to this because it private workshop. It is often assumed that
Products – including ceramics – made in the mid-sixteenth century, 12 coinciding was a popular product in both China and the the flawed products from the imperial kilns
private workshops in China are designated with the reign of Jiajing. Moreover, both Indonesian Archipelago. It is quite possible were smashed to prevent them being used
by the name minyao (‘folk products’), ‘products’ were realised in Jingdezhen and that a monochrome dish originally for by mere mortals. It is of course possible that
hence the title of this contribution. The it seems unlikely that an old dish was over- imperial use was exported as a polychrome the dish actually was made in the imperial
curved sides of this dish are decorated with decorated elsewhere at a later date. product after a second decoration was workshops and that officials there were
scrollwork and nine flowers, with trelliswork applied, likely to Indonesia. That the dish somewhat lax in their duties. A slightly
around the rim. The outside has cartouches The explanation for this curious combination appeared in a Dutch estate auction a few warped dish may not have been suitable for
with flowers within a band of trelliswork. is likely to be found in the warping of the years ago seems to confirm this. Because the emperor, but if the ratio between price
dish, which occurred during the first firing. of its former Dutch East Indies colony, the and quality was good enough, it could just
The incised six-character Jiajing mark The dish has slight ripples, an imperfection Netherlands is indeed a rich site of sixteenth- as well be used as a base material for a new
is inside two red circles that were also that would obviously have made it unsuitable century porcelain, including this type and product. Earning some money illegally was
painted later (fig. 4b). An imperial anhua for use in imperial ancestor ceremonies. Yet, other varieties (fig. 5). just as widespread then as now.
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dragon decoration can be clearly discerned the firing error apparently did not hinder

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