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14Story
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青花水仙葡萄纹盖盒
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Box with foot ring and high domed cover which tightly fits on the box (‘mother and child’ fitting). This type of bun-shaped box was a current in the late Qing era. The middle of the cover is decorated with a facing dragon. Both the cover and the box are painted all over with cut flowering sprigs: orchid, prunus, wisteria and pomegranate. The rims of both cover and box are decorated with meanders. The underglaze blue is fresh and bright, the exquisite painting elaborate and finely detailed. The base has the four character hallmark for the ‘Throne Hall of Embodied Harmony’ (tihedian) in two rows of seal script (zhuanshu). The shape and decoration of this box are identical with a design preserved at the Beijing Palace Museum. It follows that this object was made according to a model of the court itself. Similar objects were not only produced in underglaze blue but also in fencai on yellow, fencai on soft purple (ouhe), black on yellow and other glazes. They were especially made for the serving of delicacies to empress dowager Cixi in her Throne Hall of Embodied Harmony. |
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青花云龙纹盖缸 |
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Domed cover with inverted cone as a grip on top of the dome. The straight belly underneath ends in a large foot ring. This tall jar represents a type current in the late Qing. The inside has no decorations. Two walking dragons have been painted on the cover as well as on the jar itself, surrounded by ruyi clouds and fiery pearls. The lower part of the belly has been painted with a wave pattern. The decoration is well-ordered and conveys a sense of movement. The decorations of the upper and lower parts together evoke a sense of space. Tiny black specks are shimmering through the blue glaze. The base has the six character mark of Guangxu in two columns of underglaze blue regular script (kaishu). Dragons in the clouds are a traditional motif on chinaware. Their characteristics varied with the different reign periods. In the late Qing their spreading eyes, long snouts and undulating whiskers where gradually assuming anthropomorphic traits. Their scales and dorsal stickles became increasingly stylized, their forepaws and back paws shorter. This created a certain formality, yet left the impressive aura of the dragons intact. |
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青花红彩云蝠纹瓶
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Straight opening, cylindrical neck, round belly, foot ring. This type of water nut vase with its restrained shape was current in the late Qing era. The entire object has been painted with auspicious clouds in underglaze blue with red bats, the latter being partially gold-speckled. The meander on the rim and the ruyi clouds and waves on the neck are separated by a thin border painted in red and underglaze blue. The underglaze blue is deep and bright, the red is soft. The painting is full and crowded but orderly. The base has the six character mark of Guangxu in two columns of underglaze blue regular script (kaishu). Clouds and bats (fu) were a current type of porcelain decoration. They refer to the traditional wish of ‘abundance and happiness for every day’ (hong fu ji tian). Such crowded compositions of clouds and bats are frequent on objects from the imperial kilns of the Qing, especially of the late Qing. They were not only painted in red and underglaze blue, but also in such different styles as fencai and other glazes. The fencai versions are more elaborately detailed than those in red and underglaze blue. |
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粉彩云龙纹盖盒
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| The domed cover tightly fits around the rim. Foot ring. Although this type of box was current in the late Qing era, only few samples of this size have been preserved. The main painting on the cover shows two dragons toying with a pearl. On their sides are Manchurian tadpoles and thick auspicious clouds. The tightly fitting rims of the cover and the box are both decorated with polychrome meanders. Near the foot, the circumference of the box is decorated with a sea waves, rendered as a black line drawing filled in with green water and white breakers. The base has a six character mark of Guangxu in two columns of red regular script (kaishu). After the destructions during the civil war under Xianfeng, the production of imperial china rose from its ashes in the late Qing era, with the large-scale production under Guangxu being notably successful. The numerous dishes and covered boxes produced during his reign were also larger than those of the early Qing. This covered box is a representative example. | ||||
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黄地粉彩云龙纹豆 |
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This stem cup has a round rim and a straight belly. A tall pedestal, concave on the inside, blends into a foot spreading downwards into the shape of a shawm (laba). The knob on the semispherical cover is pearl-shaped. The overall shape evokes an antique bronze stem cup. It is stately and solemn, simple and generous. The entire object has been painted in fencai on a yellow ground. At several levels: on the cover, the belly, the high pedestal and the foot, separate paintings show two walking dragons surrounded by small auspicious clouds and fiery pearls. The image is completed by lotus petals, ruyi scepters, meanders, waves and bow patterns in fencai and gold. The painting is exquisite; the colours are deep, bright and rich. One side of the interior of the tall pedestal has the six character mark of Guangxu in one line of underglaze blue regular script (kaishu). Like most objects with coloured glaze, ceramic stem cups were used in sacrificial ceremonies. Production began under the Ming and continued under all Qing emperors. Most examples preserved are of the late Qing era. Dragons painted in fencai were a common decoration on objects for ritual celebrations and sacrifices. |
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青釉剔刻杏纹贯耳方瓶
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Mouth and foot both rectangular, neck straight, belly tall and rectangular, spreading downwards, foot rim short and broad. Both sides of the neck have elongated tubular ears. Because of the apricot pattern incised in convex relief on the front and the back of the belly, Chinese experts call this a ‘rectangular tubular-eared apricot vase’ (guanerxingyuanfangping). The shape is antique, the clay massive. The base has the six character mark of Guangxu in two columns of underglaze blue regular script (kaishu). This type of vase from the imperial kilns of the Qing derives from celadon examples of the Song era. With some further elaborations, this model became current under Yongzheng and Qianlong. Baking continued under all later emperors, especially under Guangxu and Xuantong, when not only blue glazes but also imitations of antique coloured and pastel glazes such as yaobian celadon, craquelé celadon (fangge), and celadon from Jiangsu (fangguan) and Shaanxi (fangru) were produced. The glazes of all these several periods had clearly distinct characteristics. The blue glaze of the late Qing, for instance, lacks the fatty surface of glazes from the early and middle periods, and its colouring is shallow and faint in comparison. For all these reasons, this vase is a classic example of the imperial wares of the Guangxu era. |
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仿钧釉剔刻杏纹贯耳方瓶
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A relief of apricot blossoms has been incised in the flambé glaze of this rectangular vase with tubular ears. This type vase has been produced in the imperial kilns under Qianlong and all following emperors. The glaze contains copper, cobalt and manganese, among other metal elements. It was fired once at high temperature. Due to minor differences in the composition and the baking process, the colour of the glaze varies with the subsequent emperors. The glaze of this vase may not come close to the fiery bluish red glow of the flambé glaze of the Qianlong era or to the dramatic red, blue and cream white hues of the Jiaqing or Daoguang glazes, but it still shows influences of the Tongzhi era: the subtle visibility of the white clay near the mouth, the grey, blue and black shades on the corners, and the almost imperceptible flambé layer. On the base, the six character mark of Guangxu has been incised in two columns of regular script (kaishu) in the unglazed clay. |
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黄釉花尊 |
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Wide, outwardly spreading rim. Long, rather elegant neck. Flattened, slightly spreading belly. Tall, spreading foot, straight foot ring. This model was a current type of flower vase during the late Qing. The inside and outside are covered with a delicate yellow glaze with a uniform surface. The base has a four character mark in two columns of regular script (kaishu) incised under the glaze: ‘Made for the Palace of Elegant Gathering’ (chuxiugong zhi). Yellow glaze is a type of white porcelain fired at high temperature. It could be fired a second time at low temperature with the right amount of iron pigment on the clay. Its production dates back to the Ming emperor Yongle. From Xuande on, yellow glazes have been produced in the imperial kilns of all his successors. As the Chinese words for ‘yellow’ and ‘emperor’ sound the same, only the emperors were entitled to use yellow porcelain. In Qing court sources, objects with yellow glaze on both the inside and outside appear as ‘yellow ware’ or ‘palace ware’. Only the reigning emperor, his mother and his First spouse were allowed to use them. The imperial concubines were allowed to use objects with a yellow glaze on the outside and a white glaze inside, with the exclusion of all other members of the court. Research shows that the ‘yellow ware’ with this mark was made to order in honor of empress Cixi’s fiftieth birthday in 1884. Her husband Guangxu had the Palace of Elegant Gathering renovated for the occasion. |
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| 蓝釉扁方瓶 Rectangular vase with blue glaze Period: Guangxu (1875-1908) Height: 29.7 cm, opening: 10.2 x 7.7 cm, foot: 13.2 x 9.6 cm Donation of Gu Lijiang
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The main shape of this vase is a truncate rectangular pyramid with straight rim, curved shoulder and tall belly, gradually tapering downwards. The inside of the concave base is flat and rectangular. The clay is massive yet of fine quality. The simple but stately shape derives from bronze vessels. The inside and outside of the object are covered with a uniform and shiny blue glaze. The base has the six character mark of Guangxu in two columns of regular script (kaishu) in a very dark underglaze blue. Blue glazed china has been produced in Jingdezhen from the Yuan dynasty on. It was used by the Ming emperors in their sacrifices to Heaven and also produced in great numbers in the imperial kilns under the following dynasty. The Institutions of the Great Ming (Daming huidian) for 1804 record: ‘Porcelain ordered for sacrifices in the four suburbs: blue for the Temple of Heaven, yellow for the Temple of Earth, vermillion for the Temple of the Sun, and white for the Temple of the Moon. Went to Raozhou prefecture in Jiangxi to have this made to order.’ The colour of the blue glaze varied under the several emperors. The late Qing glaze is either deeper and more saturated or lighter and paler than the early and middle Qing glazes. The glaze surface looks refined, albeit less fatty and radiant than that from the early and middle periods. This vase is yet a highlight. |
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