Page 474 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

ated, form a band of scrolling decoration around
the shoulder. The drawing of this piece is espe-
cially vigorous. Unlike the more schematic and,
later, emblematic creatures of the later Ming and
Qing, these dragons are convincingly full-bodied,
their motion believably animated and undulating.
Over the white fabric of the jar the glaze has a
particularly fine oily sheen. The base has a shal-
low ring-foot and, within its stepped underside, a
six-character reign-mark in cobalt blue. S.E.L.

3^3
COVERED JAR

Chenghua reign (1465-1487)
Chinese
white porcelain with dou cai decoration
321 322 height 11.1 (4 /s), diameter at mouth 6.3 (2 /2J,
3
2
3
(j /s)
PALACE BOWL JAR diameter at foot 9.1 1953, 77-93; Medley 1966;
references:
Jenyns
Los Angeles 1989
Chenghua mark and period (1465-1487) Chenghua mark and period (1465-1487)
Chinese Chinese National Palace Museum, Taipei
white porcelain with underglaze blue decoration white porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
3
3
5
height 6.8 (2 /s), diameter at mouth 14.7 ($ /4) height 8.7 (3 /s), diameter 12.8 (5)
references: Brankston 1938, 46, 47, pi. 26c- Jenyns reference: Medley 1962-1963, pis. na, lib Perhaps the rarest of all Chenghua period por-
1953, 79-85, pis. 62-63; Medley 1963, A.6/\.6 celains, this jar has no counterpart in the West.
The Asia Society, New York, Given the sybaritic life of the emperor, empress,
National Palace Museum, Taipei Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller jrd Collection and inner court, the compressed and softly swell-
ing shape and wide, low-rimmed mouth suggest
The term "Palace Bowl," proposed by Brankston On this small jar of squat form, with a high shoul- that it was used to hold small delicacies.
for bowls of this shape and size, seems to have der and rolled mouth rim, the principal decoration Dou cai decoration combined underglaze draw-
been accepted almost universally. The shape is is of two fish-tailed dragons soaring above a ing in cobalt blue with overglaze enameling; sepa-
very simple, with little or no reflex curve from raging sea. Hooked foliate scrolls, obliquely situ- rately the two techniques antedated the Chenghua
the side to the lip. The six-character reign-mark
and the two fine-lined circles enclosing it are
brushed in underglaze blue on the slightly
convex, fully glazed base. Encircling the wall of
the bowl inside and out is a hibiscus(?) scroll with
five blooms and leaves; in the well of the interior
is a five-leaf floral "whorl" enclosed in a single
fine-lined circle. Double lines mark the lip inside
and out, and on the exterior a double line encircles
the foot. Characteristic of these Chenghua period
bowls, the design is simple, elegant, and finely
balanced, and the blue color is enhanced by the
large area of white surround. As Brankston notes,
the scrolling stem that links the blooms and leaves
was not drawn with a single continuous brush
stroke, unlike the scrolls of earlier imperial wares
made at Jingdezhen. Pale blue wash alongside the
darker blue in blossoms and leaves effects a subtle
kind of shading, simply achieved. S.E.L.

TOWARD CATHAY 473