Page 478 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

the decoration are in underglaze cobalt blue. suspended bubbles. In shape this dish resembles 330
The back of the screen is unglazed. a yellow-glazed dish in the Millikin Collection
The elegantly written Arabic text has been at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which bears a MEI-PING VASE
translated: "The words of [God] Almighty... and genuine Chenghua reign-mark; it is also like the late 15th century
that the places of worship belong to God, so call one illustrated by Brankston (Brankston 1938, 86, Chinese
on none along with God. And that when the ser- table ivf) and ascribed by him to the Hongzhi white porcelaneous ware with fa hua decoration
vant of God (Sayyidua Muhammad) arose calling reign. height 36.8 (1^/2)
on Him they (the Jinn) were near to being too The hue is remarkably like that of certain rare references: Jenyns 1953, 75-76; Medley 1976,
great an oppression for him. Say: I worship my Xuande (1426-1435) porcelains, such as the reign- 207-208
Lord alone and associate none with Him" (The marked dish in the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of John L.
Qur'an: Surat al Jinn [LXXII] v. 18-20, trans. Copper oxide, fired in a reducing kiln, produces Severance
D. Cowan). this red, which on porcelains of Ming date is
This highly unusual piece is one of the so-called called ji hong or you li hong. Before firing, a Clearly outside the rarefied and intellectual realm
Muhammadan wares—blue-and-white porcelains clear, untinted glaze was applied over the copper- of Imperial blue-and-white or monochrome porce-
bearing inscriptions in Arabic or Persian against charged glaze. Where this clear glaze ran down lains is the vividly colored group of wares exem-
a background of distinctive, rather stiff scrolls from the rim, leaving the copper glaze exposed plified by this handsome mei-ping (plum-blossom
outlined in dark blue and filled in with paler during firing, the copper volatilized, and the vase). This decorative mode is called fa hua, a
blue. Muhammadan wares, mostly accessories of white porcelain body color shows through. term that, as written by most Chinese authors,
the scholar's writing table, appeared during the Except for a few accidental or exceedingly crude means "French" (or "Prankish") decoration. Fa
Zhengde reign. They were produced for the Palace examples, copper red first appeared in the ceramic hua ware falls within the more general classifica-
eunuchs, mostly Muslim, who by virtue of heavy decorator's palette during the Mongol Yuan tion of porcelain or porcelaneous ceramics clad in
influence over this emperor wielded vast power, dynasty (1279-1368). Yuan potters attempted to low-fired glazes applied over the biscuit (fired
corruptly, in the imperial administration. The create underglaze red-and-white wares with the body). Fa hua wares are clearly distinguished
Zhengde emperor himself was rumored to have same decorative vocabulary as the more common by designs outlined in raised threads of slip and
converted to the Muslim faith, particularly after underglaze blue-and-white wares, but found the colored in a palette of deep aubergine, cobalt blue,
an edict late in his reign forbade the killing underglaze red very difficult to control, particu- turquoise, and yellow glazes, and white (in
of pigs. S.E.L. larly on larger pieces and on those with elaborate reserve). The technique, palette, and style of
decoration. Most often such pieces emerged from decoration resemble cloisonne enameling on
the kiln with the red turned to gray, silver, even metal, a medium associated with the Prankish
black, and often rather thin and "bleeding" in countries as early as the Yuan dynasty (1279-
appearance. Small monochrome-glazed bowls and
stem cups fared better, and this miniature mas-
tery continued into early Ming, especially the
Xuande period, and (as in this example) even to
the end of the fifteenth century. Among Ming
ceramics, however, copper reds are rare, because
the potters had still not entirely mastered the
high temperatures (exceeding 1500° C.) and care-
fully controlled reducing atmosphere necessary in
the kiln. In the sixteenth century the underglaze
red technique was abandoned in favor of the
more easily controlled overglaze red enamels and
was not attempted again until the seventeenth
century.
The direct descendants of the early Ming
329
copper reds are the technologically masterful
DISH productions of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen,
Jiangxi Province, during the Qing dynasty, espe-
probably Chenghua (1465-1487) or Hongzhi cially the reign-era of the Kangxi emperor (1662-
(1488-1505) reign 1722). The "oxblood" (lang yao) and peachbloom
Chinese
porcelain with monochrome red (ji hong; sacrificial glazes of that time are justly famous for their
red) glaze range and brilliance of hues.
3
diameter 17 (6 /4J The precise use of the Ming red-glazed ceram-
references: Brankston 1938; Hetherington 1948, ics is not known, but their shapes — almost exclu-
60-66, 75-78; Jenyns 1953, 52-56; Medley 1976, sively dishes, stem cups, and bowls — suggest
211, 212; Cleveland 1990, nos. 44, 47 luxury food services and small altar vessels.
S.E.L.
The Asia Society, New York,
Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller jrd Collection

Cloaking this shallow dish is a deep and variable
glaze ranging from blood red to cherry, with an
"orange peel" texture resulting from many tiny
TOWARD CATHAY 477