[Illustration]
A BOOK OF PORCELAIN
FINE EXAMPLES IN THE
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
AGENTS
AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
AUSTRALASIA THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE
CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE, 70 BOND STREET, TORONTO
INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
PLATE 1
Jar, Chinese, period of the Ming dynasty, decorated in colours
of the _demi-grand feu_, with chased brass cover of Persian
workmanship. Height. 15¼ in.
No. 1730-1876. See p. 14.
Unmarked.
[Illustration]
A · BOOK · OF
PORCELAIN
_FINE EXAMPLES IN THE
VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM_
PAINTED BY WILLIAM GIBB
WITH TEXT BY
BERNARD RACKHAM, M.A.
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
SOHO SQUARE · LONDON · MCMX
DEDICATED
BY PERMISSION
TO
H.M. QUEEN ALEXANDRA
PREFACE
_The twenty-eight water-colour drawings reproduced in this volume
have been made from specimens of porcelain in the collections of the
Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, many of which have
never been published before, while others have not hitherto been
reproduced in colours. The selection has been made not merely of those
pieces in their several classes which have a high sale-room value;
due consideration has been given to those which by their aesthetic
qualities appealed to the sympathies of the artist, while at the same
time an effort has been made to include objects having some particular
historical or personal interest, or important as documents in the
history of ceramics. In this connection it should be explained that the
drawings were made before Mr. George Salting’s unrivalled collection of
Oriental porcelain passed by his death into the hands of the nation._
_The text does not pretend to be a general treatise on porcelain, or
even an exhaustive summary of its history. The aim of the writer has
been to record everything that is noteworthy with regard to the several
pieces represented in the drawings, and at the same time to lay stress
on the particular aspects of the subject which these examples serve to
elucidate, taking them as the theme for a discussion of various phases
in the evolution of the art._
_Anything in the nature of a bibliography of works consulted by the
author would be out of place in a publication of this kind, but
acknowledgment must be made of his indebtedness, in the sphere of
Oriental ceramics, to the writings of Dr. Bushell, Captain Brinkley,
Dr. Otto Kümmel_ (_in_ Geschichte des Kunstgewerbes), _and Mr. R. L.
Hobson. For English porcelain reference has been made, in addition
to older authorities, to the works of Mr. William Burton; while the
chief authorities consulted on the subject of Continental factories
are Dr. Brinckmann, Dr. Berling, Dr. Bertold Pfeiffer, Signor
Corona, M. le Baron Davillier, M. le Comte X. de Chavagnac, and M.
Lechevallier-Chevignard. The author desires to express his gratefulness
for various information and personal assistance afforded him by Mr.
M. Yeats Brown, Mr. H. P. Mitchell, M. le Comte X. de Chavagnac, M.
Émile Auscher, and the Friherrinna Julia Marks von Würtemberg. Thanks
are also due to Mr. J. H. Fitzhenry for kind permission to reproduce a
Ludwigsburg coffee-pot in his collection._
_BERNARD RACKHAM._
LONDON, _October 1910_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
INTRODUCTORY xiii
I. CHINESE PORCELAIN 1
II. JAPANESE PORCELAIN 29
III. ITALIAN PORCELAIN 37
IV. FRENCH PORCELAIN 47
V. GERMAN PORCELAIN 63
VI. ENGLISH PORCELAIN 73
INDEX 89
LIST OF PLATES IN COLOUR
BY WILLIAM GIBB
1. Jar, Ming Dynasty. Chinese, with Persian Brass Cover.
(_Frontispiece._)
2. Jar, Chinese, Early Ming Dynasty.
3. Bowl, Period of Chia Ching, and Plate, Period of Yung Chêng.
Chinese.
4. Ewer, Period of Wan Li. Chinese, with Augsburg Mount.
5. Vase, Chinese Celadon Ware with Louis XVI. Ormolu Mount.
6. Vase, Fuchien Porcelain, with Louis XIV. Silver-gilt Mount.
7. Jar, “Blue and White.” Chinese, Period of K’ang Hsi.
8. Vase, _famille verte_. Chinese, Period of K’ang Hsi.
9. Vase in Archaic Style. Chinese, Period of Yung Chêng.
10. Bottle, Medici Porcelain. Florentine.
11. Bowl, probably made at Pisa, dated 1638.
12. Toilette-pot, St. Cloud, with Ormolu Mount.
13. Toilette-pot, Chantilly, with Japanese Design.
14. Vase, Sèvres, _rose Pompadour_.
15. Ewer and Basin, Sèvres, yellow ground.
16. Écuelle and Stand, Sèvres, Turquoise-blue, with Panels after
Boucher.
17. Jug, Sèvres, _bleu de roi_.
18. Vase, Sèvres, green ground.
19. Vase, Sèvres, _bleu de roi_, given by Gustavus III. to
Catherine II.
20. Vase, Meissen, Marcolini Period.
21. Coffee-pot, Ludwigsburg.
22. Figure of a Shepherdess, Chelsea.
23. Jar, Chelsea, in Japanese Style.
24. Vase, Chelsea, Mazarine Blue.
25. Teapot, Chelsea, Claret-colour, with Figures after Watteau.
26. Vase, Chelsea-Derby, with Biscuit Handles.
27. Vase, Worcester, with Japanese Pattern.
28. Vase, Bristol, with Exotic Birds.
INTRODUCTORY
It is the experience probably of most Western amateurs of porcelain
to pass through three successive stages of development in their
appreciation of an art which, even for the uninitiated,--for those
who have no knowledge of its history and little understanding of its
technical aspects,--is not lacking in charm and fascination. For,
indeed, there is about most porcelain, of whatever kind, some quality
of alluring grace, a daintiness of material, or a pleasing play
of colour, which makes an appeal at first sight to the eye of all
lovers of things beautiful. Mere casual pleasure in its superficial
attractiveness will not fail to give place to an ever-deepening
interest for those who will take the pains to learn its inner secrets,
to discover in it, expressed in enduring form, the creative power
of a craftsman’s soul, nay more, a reflection of the very spirit of
humanity in its changing moods, varying in conformity with racial
differences or environment of time and place. This wondrous product
of human skill,--as it were a new stone of rare value added to those
which nature has given us,--will assuredly kindle in the hearts of its
admirers a desire to learn something of its story. They will find, in
their endeavours to understand its mysteries, that their interest is
aroused in the first place by the porcelain of their own country,
reflecting as it does a culture in the midst of which they have
themselves been born and bred.
The English amateur will naturally seek a field for his first studies
in English porcelain. It wears a certain air of homeliness which
endears it to his heart; its uses and forms are those which are
familiar in the daily life of his countrymen; its decoration as a
rule makes no exacting demands on his erudition in order to be fully
understood. After English porcelain, the collector’s attention will
most readily be turned to that of the continent of Europe.
His apprenticeship, the first of the three stages to which allusion
has been made above, is thus spent in the study of the Western
manifestations of the art. As yet he does not understand, and cannot
appreciate at their true value, the Eastern wares from which the
European trace their descent. In the course of his researches a
curiosity can scarcely fail to be stirred in him to know more of these
Oriental precursors. His curiosity deepens; his desire to satisfy it
brings him at last under a new spell, and the second stage is reached.
His enthusiasm is now all for the Chinese; its perfection of material
and form, its dazzling beauty of colour, the artistic fitness of
its decoration, engage his admiration more and more. Alien to his
imagination as it is in conception, it nevertheless fascinates him ever
more surely as he grows more familiar with it. The European china of
his early collecting days pleases him no longer.
But there will follow a third stage, in which a more catholic taste
is developed. The student of the Oriental can understand much in the
Western wares that was meaningless so long as he was ignorant of the
sources from which they were derived. His appreciation of the high
artistic worth of the Chinese is undiminished, but his sympathy is now
again awakened by the more humane qualities of the European, appealing
as they do to kindred instincts in his own Western nature. He has now
reached the point at which he is able to give its true value to all
good work, whatever its origin may be. The excellences of the Eastern
do not blind him to the merits of the Western; all alike in their
several types of beauty are a joy to his soul.
PLATE 9
Vase, Chinese, period of Yung Chêng (1723-1735), with “five colour”
design of archaistic style. Height, 18 in.
No. 3022-1853. See p. 26.
Unmarked.
[Illustration]
I
CHINESE PORCELAIN
PLATE 5
Vase, Chinese celadon porcelain, decorated in slip under the glaze,
with French ormolu mount of the period of Louis XVI. Height, 17 in.
Jones Collection.
No. 817-1882. See p. 16.
Unmarked.
[Illustration]
The very name by which porcelain is commonly known suggests, to those
in whom it arouses an interest beyond the mere aesthetic pleasure
to be got from its outward beauty of appearance, that if they would
understand it rightly, they must turn their attention first to the land
of its origin. To the Chinese the world owes a material as lovely as
any ever fashioned by the hand of man, and some account of the growth
of this art in Chinese hands is a necessary prelude to any study alike
of the Chinese ware itself and of the European imitations of it.
The first beginnings of this wonderful art must be sought in pottery
of humble material. The rough but dignified earthenware of the HAN
DYNASTY, contemporaneous approximately with the opening of the
Christian era, signalises the first appearance in China of pottery of
an artistic nature. The green-glazed vessels of this period, imitating
the shapes and outward texture of bronze, have become only in recent
times familiar objects on the shelves of our museums. From them we can
trace the porcelain of later times, by which the Chinese have proved
themselves the master-potters of the world, excelling and giving
the lead to the ceramists of every other race. Yet it is strange
to reflect how late in history their skill has been learned, and to
remember that Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and other Western races
were masters of the potter’s craft many centuries before the Chinese
achieved their earliest artistic wares. Coming late into the field,
they evolved in a comparatively short span of time a material which
placed them ahead of every rival.
* * * * *
The SUNG DYNASTY, which occupied the throne of China for more than
three hundred years beginning towards the end of the tenth century,
witnessed the first emergence of a true ceramic style. The potters
of earlier times had been content to follow the forms set by the
bronze-founder, but their successors of the Sung period set forth on
purely ceramic lines and arrived at a great variety of wares which
are recorded in Chinese literature. To identify these among surviving
specimens that may be attributed to this period is a formidable task
for the antiquarian. The problem need not be discussed here, as most
of these wares cannot be classed as porcelain in the ordinary sense
of the word; but it is interesting to note briefly those types which
foreshadow the developments of later times.
The emancipation of the potter to a position of independence is well
shown by a small vase in the Victoria and Albert Museum of the type
known as “_Chün yao_,” made from the earliest years of the Sung period
at Chün-chou, in the province of Honan. The vase is of ovoid form
with a lizard-like dragon coiled round it in relief; the surface is
covered with a thick lavender-blue glaze on which is a splash of strong
crimson. Though the body is porcellanous, the freedom of the modelling
marks a distinct advance from the imitative bronze vessels of earlier
times, while the brilliancy of the colouring anticipates the pure
and gorgeous hues which were among the triumphs of the golden age of
porcelain.
The discovery during this period of the properties of kaolin and the
effort to imitate by artificial means the luminous beauties of jade,
pointed the way to the evolution of a white translucent porcelain
body. The cream-coloured Ting ware, made at Ting-chou in the province
of Chihli, stand, among the relics of these far-off times which have
escaped destruction, as the first achievements in this direction.
The beauty and dignity of this ware is well exemplified by the two
quadrangular vases at South Kensington, formerly in Dr. Bushell’s
collection. The delicate floral or diaper ornament incised under the
soft ivory-toned glaze gives promise of the skilful handiwork of the
golden age of the art. One distinctive characteristic of porcelain, the
quality of translucency, is still absent in most wares of this order,
but pieces of smaller size, such as an exquisitely fashioned little box
and cover at Kensington, show a warm glow through their thinner parts
when held to the light.
Another class of ware to which reference must here be made is the
celebrated celadon ware of Lung-ch’üan, in the province of Chekiang,
which was first produced during this dynasty in the effort to imitate
green jade. This ware was widely exported over land and sea, and is met
with in remote and unexpected corners of the Old World. A well-known
specimen of it, Archbishop Warham’s cup, preserved at New College,
Oxford, is the first piece of Chinese ware recorded to have reached
this country. Though it has the nature rather of fine stoneware than
of porcelain, it is to be noted as the forerunner of a large class of
porcelain of later times.
* * * * *
It was not until the period of the MING DYNASTY that the ware usually
associated in Europe with the term “porcelain” first began to be made,
that is, a ware with a hard, pure white body, more or less translucent.
The beginning of the same period witnessed the emergence to a position
of ascendancy of the imperial factory at Ching-tê-chên, in the province
of Kiangsi. The factory was rebuilt in 1869 by Hung Wu, the first
of the Ming emperors, and remained henceforward the chief centre
of the porcelain industry in China. The subsequent achievements of
Ching-tê-chên have never been surpassed in the whole history of ceramic
art.
The Ming dynasty productions have a certain well-marked _cachet_,
which distinguishes them clearly in their several classes alike from
the wares of earlier times and from the porcelain made under the
later Ch’ing emperors. There is a notable predominance of vessels of
large size, formed of heavy material, displaying a massiveness and
bold simplicity in their contours and decorated with designs, whether
modelled or painted, of vigorous conception and of free, even rough
execution. The potter addresses himself with energy to his task, and is
no longer limited either to the imitative work of the Han dynasty, or
to the more restrained, often delicate performances of the intervening
age. At the same time, he has not yet gained the mastery of hand or
the familiarity with the powers of the kiln which made possible the
artistic and technical refinements of his successors.
PLATE 8
Vase, Chinese, period of K’ang Hsi (1662-1722), with enamel
painting of the _famille verte_. Height, 18 in.
No. 276-1864. See p. 21.
Unmarked.
[Illustration]
We are probably right in recognising as the earliest productions in
pure white-bodied porcelain that have come down to us, a group, of
which there are several fine examples in the Victoria and Albert
Museum; one of these has been chosen for illustration in Plate 2.
The class is characterised by a dense heavy body, massive form, and
decoration, executed by means of coloured glazes, which are applied and
fixed at a lower temperature after the first firing of the ware. The
colours are confined to a full dark blue, turquoise-blue, straw-yellow,
and a pale manganese-violet, to which sometimes an opaque white is
added. In the greater number of cases the outline stands out in slight
relief from the surface of the object, and is filled in with the
coloured glazes in the same manner as the hollows in the copper base
of a _champlevé_ enamel. A similar technique is met with again in
the so-called _cuenca_ tiles made in Southern Spain in the sixteenth
century. In some rare instances the vase is made with double sides,
and the design is reserved in openwork by cutting through the outer
casing. This type is represented at South Kensington by a large jar[1]
decorated with a procession of soldiers, which stands out with bold
effectiveness against the dark hollows of the pierced background.
[1] Illustrated in Dr. Bushell’s _Chinese Art_, vol. ii. fig. 12.
A fine example of the more usual method of decoration is the piece
reproduced in Plate 2. It is a jar of large dimensions which has
reached this country by way of Persia, and has been embellished there
with a mounting of brass chased with inscriptions and medallions. The
high esteem in which Chinese porcelain has been held for centuries
in the Nearer East is evident from the pronounced Chinese influence
manifested in Persian and Syrian art from an early period, while during
the course of the Ming dynasty the export of porcelain from China to
Western Asia grew enormously, and the imitation of Chinese motives
became the predominant element of design in the indigenous wares of
Persia. That country was the source which supplied a large part of the
collection of Ming porcelain now exhibited at South Kensington.
The jar here illustrated is of characteristically solid material,
only slightly translucent. Groups of crested wading birds among rocks
and bushes of peony in blossom, the flower symbolical of spring in
Chinese lore, form the main feature of the decoration. On the shoulder
are lobed compartments enclosing the eight Buddhist “Emblems of Happy
Augury.” Round the lower part are floral designs in shaped panels.
The outlines, being slightly raised from the surface of the jar, form
barriers by which the coloured glazes were kept from mingling one with
another in the kiln. The harmonious hues serve to emphasise the bold
and simple forms of the ornament, which seem thoroughly in keeping with
the strong curves of the profile of the vase itself.
Other fine examples of this class exhibiting the same technique may
be seen at South Kensington. Besides two large jars with processions
of mounted soldiers, there are two smaller vases of the elongated
pear shape which is also characteristic of this period. One of these,
decorated with chrysanthemums and peonies, is remarkable for the full
and rich colours of the glazes, while the other is of interest from the
quaint figures on it with their primitive garb of sewn leaves. In a
pair of square vases, probably early exponents of the style, an effect
of solemn beauty has been obtained by the use of white and turquoise
only on a manganese ground of dense purple.
PLATE 10
Bottle, “Medici porcelain,” made in Florence about 1580, with
design of Oriental character in blue, outlined in manganese-purple.
Height, 6-7/8 in.
No. 229-1890. See p. 41.
Unmarked.
[Illustration]
In the classes of porcelain which have hitherto been dealt with, the
decoration has been effected either by cutting into the surface with
a pointed instrument or moulding it in relief, or by the addition of
colouring materials to the glaze. We must now consider the method
most widely prevalent in recent times, namely, that of painting on
the surface either before or after glazing. In China this method
came into use at a comparatively late period. Elsewhere it had been
known for many centuries as a means of ceramic decoration. In Persia,
for example, painted designs are met with on the pottery found by
French excavators in the lowest stratum on the site of the city
of Susa, dating possibly from 5000 years before Christ, while on
the semi-porcellanous ware of ancient Egypt painting is of common
occurrence. It was widespread as a ceramic process in the Near East and
the countries round the Mediterranean long before it was practised by
the Chinese. The earliest painted wares of China certainly do not date
back before the Sung dynasty, and it is doubtful whether even so great
an age as this can be ascribed to them.
There is a class of vases painted in a strong dark brown with
roughly-drawn ornament of Buddhistic character, which are probably not
more recent than the earliest years of the Ming dynasty, and may date
from the latter part of the Sung period. They were made at Tzŭ-chou,
in the province of Honan. Several examples of this kind are in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, most of them painted with spirited designs
of lotus-flowers and leafy scrollwork, sometimes with birds introduced
amongst the foliage. One vase is decorated with four shaped panels,
three enclosing lotus-flowers, while in the fourth is a crude figure
of a Buddhist monk. These vases are worthy of special attention, as
they appear to mark the point at which a step forward was taken of
far-reaching significance in its effect on Chinese ceramics. The
introduction of the painter’s brush among the implements of the
Chinese potter led the way to developments which placed him above his
fellow-craftsmen in other lands, amongst whom this branch of the art
had been familiar in much earlier ages.
Of all the materials employed as pigments in the decoration of
porcelain, the most important and the most widespread in use is
cobalt-blue. It is said that this colour was first introduced into
China from the west of Asia as early as the tenth century, but it
does not appear to have been used for painting before the thirteenth
century. In this connection mention may be made of a miniature vase at
South Kensington of the cream-coloured Ting ware already alluded to,
which is painted with indistinct markings in cobalt-blue. It may be
that such pieces as this can rightly be referred back to the end of the
Sung dynasty, and that we have in them the first manifestations of the
great family of “blue and white” china, which in the eyes of the world
at large represents Chinese porcelain _par excellence_.
Be that as it may, it was not till the time of the Ming emperors
that there was any extensive production of painted “blue and white”
porcelain. The earliest extant pieces that can be dated with any
degree of certainty are ascribable to the reign of the emperor Hsüan
Tê (1426-1435). There is a small bowl of this period in the Salting
Collection. It is remarkable as well for the quality of the glaze,
resembling vellum in its texture, as for the soft greyish tones of
the cobalt used in the delicate painting of chrysanthemums and other
flowering plants.
Two other pieces bearing the mark of Hsüan Tê are to be seen at South
Kensington, but although they belong undoubtedly to the Ming dynasty,
it cannot be regarded as certain that the mark upon them indicates
their actual age. One of these is a bowl painted with a design of
trees, the pine, peach, and bamboo, symbolising long life, and the
pomegranate, which is the emblem of fecundity; by a quaint conceit the
trunks of the trees are distorted into the form of the characters _fu_
(“happiness”) and _shou_ (“longevity”). The other specimen is a tall
cylindrical vase, bearing the mark in a _cartouche_ on the border, as
it is sometimes found on porcelain of the later Wan Li period. It is
decorated with conventional lotus-flowers in three horizontal bands,
painted in dark cobalt-blue and the underglaze crimson obtained from
copper, which ranks with cobalt as one of the earliest pigments used in
Chinese ceramics. A noticeable feature of the painting is the way in
which the leaves and petals are darkened by a stippling of dots over a
lighter wash of colour.
Another interesting jar, of six-sided form and undoubtedly early
in date, has floral ornament executed in dark blue, approaching to
black where heavily laid on, which recalls the designs occurring on
the hexagonal tiles from the Great Mosque at Damascus. The Persian
chased brass rim with which the jar is mounted indicates the channel
through which it has come to the West. The Damascus tiles are believed
to date from the fifteenth century, and the resemblance between them
and the jar in question is so striking as to suggest that they were
painted under direct Chinese influence. This view is confirmed by the
occurrence among the motives upon them of the Far Eastern chrysanthemum.
Advancing to the sixteenth century and the reigns of Chêng Tê, Chia
Ching, and Wan Li, we find surviving “blue and white” specimens by no
means rare. To the first reign are attributed certain objects made
for Mohammedan use, as shown by the occurrence upon them of Arabic
inscriptions, and some large globular jars with conventional lotus
designs under a glaze usually of pronounced bluish tone. The Chia Ching
period is characterised particularly by a blue of great intensity,
sometimes verging upon violet; it is seen in several large jars at
South Kensington in which the strong painting harmonises with the
massiveness of the form.
The bowl figuring in Plate 3 shows that a more refined style was also
in vogue at the same time. It is fashioned with the utmost delicacy
and painted in a free manner, but with unerring sureness of hand. On
the outside are seen the mythical _fêng huang_, or phœnix, of Buddhist
lore, and other smaller birds flying amid bamboos; on the bamboo
stems grows the sacred fungus or _ling-chih_, like the bamboo itself
an emblem of longevity. In the medallion at the bottom inside is an
exquisite drawing of a song-bird perched on the branch of a blossoming
tree. The bowl is marked underneath with the words _Ta Ming Chia
Ching nien chih_ (“Made in the Chia Ching period of the great Ming
dynasty”). The soft grey-blue recalls the bowl of the Hsüan Tê period
to which reference has already been made. Form and painting alike are
executed with spontaneity and directness, qualities as attractive as
the technical finish of later periods, when a loss of sincerity was the
inevitable price paid for exactness of workmanship. This difference
of quality may be well appreciated by a comparison of the bowl with
the “egg-shell” plate of the Yung Chêng period reproduced in the same
drawing, to which reference will again be made.
Another drawing (Plate 4) shows a typical example, formerly in Sir
Charles Robinson’s collection, of the better kind of “blue and white”
produced during the reign of Wan Li, who was contemporary with our
own Queen Elizabeth. That this elegant wine-pot found its way to
Europe at no long interval after it was made is proved by the bronze
mounting, which happily accentuates its gracefulness of contour. The
domed cover of ogee outline and the crested borders indicate that the
mounting is of German origin, and was done probably at Augsburg in
the early years of the seventeenth century. The six sides of the body
form panels filled in with a variety of flowers, among which may be
distinguished such oft-recurring emblems of longevity as the lotus and
the _ling-chih_ or miraculous fungus; the slender neck is painted with
conventional flames. In the hollow beneath the foot is the word _fu_
(“longevity”), written in seal character.
This piece belongs to the same class of finer porcelain made under
Wan Li as a melon-shaped wine-pot, mounted in silver-gilt, bearing
the London hall-mark for 1585-86, and the well-known set of bowls,
also with Elizabethan silver-gilt mounting, which were formerly in the
possession of the Cecil family at Burghley House. In addition to this
finer porcelain, vast quantities of “blue and white” ware of inferior
quality were made for export. It went eastwards to Japan, where it
provided patterns for some of the porcelain turned out from the kilns
of the province of Hizen, and westwards to Persia, to be imitated in
earthenware by the native potters of the time of the great Shah Abbas
II. The decoration, rough and careless as it often is, has generally
a certain attractiveness on account of its freedom from the fault of
over-refinement. Roughly-sketched landscapes with deer, hares or birds
in shaped panels are frequent motives.
A dish at South Kensington, probably of the Wan Li period, is doubly
interesting. Its decoration of floral ornament on scrolled stems is
identical with a design not uncommon on Damascus earthenware of the
sixteenth century. The back exhibits an unglazed surface of deep
reddish-yellow, and bears, sharply cut into the paste, the Persian word
_naranji_ (“orange-coloured”) and a Persian name, probably that of a
former owner.
The next illustration (Plate 1) stands for another process of
decoration invented in the Ming period, which opened the way to
wonderful developments in later times. This new method consisted in
painting over the glaze in enamel colours, necessitating a second
firing at a lower temperature than that required for fusing the glaze.
The colours employed are a dry scarlet obtained from oxide of iron,
green, yellow of straw-coloured tone, and manganese-violet, which,
together with underglaze cobalt, constitute the scheme known as the
“five colour” decoration. In some cases only two or three of these
colours are used, but generally the predominant notes are given by red
and green. This style anticipates the _famille verte_ order of the time
of K’ang Hsi; it is specially associated with the Wan Li period, when
it came into general vogue, but instances of it occur dating from the
reign of Chia Ching, and in these the red is of a more neutral tone
sometimes verging on orange.
The jar figuring in Plate 1 is altogether exceptional by reason of
the manganese-purple ground on which the ornament is painted. The
predominance of this colour gives a splendour of effect which is
accentuated by the points of bright red and green distributed with
such sureness of judgment over the surface. The powers of the Ming
dynasty potter are here displayed at their best. Scattered flowers
of the winter plum, one of the numerous emblems of long life, are
interspersed among the “Eight Precious Things” (_Pa Pao_), tokens to
the Buddhist of all that goes to make up mortal felicity. Visible
in the drawing are the pair of books strung together, standing for
literary accomplishments; the open lozenge, a symbol of victory or
success; and the pearl or jewel of the law. The remaining five objects,
not appearing in the view of the vase shown in the illustration, are
the “cash,” figuring as a square enclosed by a circle, for pecuniary
wealth; the painting, representative of the arts; the _ch’ing_ or
musical stone, a kind of gong considered lucky on account of the
identity of its name with the word for “prosperity”; the pair of
rhinoceros-horn cups paralleled by the classical “horn of plenty”; and
the leaf of the artemisia, a fragrant plant believed to be efficacious
as an antidote against harmful influences. Below these symbols are
waves of the sea, tossing in green foam against jagged rocks; spiral
eddies painted in black outline under a wash of transparent purple form
the background to the composition. The jar was bought in Persia, and
is mounted with a brass neck and domed cover of Persian workmanship,
chased with arabesques and pierced with grotesque figures in a row of
medallions.
Mention has already been made of the celadon-glazed wares made from
the Sung period onwards in imitation of green jade, which are perhaps
the most widely distributed of all the wares produced in China for
export. To this category belong the great rice-dishes and jars for
storing grain, often of extraordinary weight in proportion to their
size, frequently met with in India and Persia, and everywhere along
the shores and islands of the Indian Ocean. This class of porcelain
was known to the Arab traders of the Middle Ages as “Martabani,”
from the name of the Burmese port which was one of the centres for
its distribution. This nomenclature finds its parallel in the name
“Gombroon ware,” by which it was called in England in the seventeenth
century; the establishment of the East India Company’s factory
at Gombroon on the Straits of Ormuz first opened the way for its
importation in any considerable quantity into this country.
PLATE 11
Bowl, Italian, dated 1638, probably made at Pisa, the design on the
exterior borrowed from Turkish earthenware. Height, 2½ in. Willett
Collection.
No. 341-1905. See p. 42.
The mark and the medallion inside are reproduced below the elevation of
the bowl.
[Illustration]
The long-necked vase of celadon ware from the Jones Collection in
Plate 5 may fitly be described here, as it probably dates from the
latter part of the Ming dynasty, though the refinement of the form
suggests that it may have been made in the earlier years of K’ang Hsi.
The surface of the vase is entirely coated with a crackled glaze of
bluish-celadon tone, running down in thick waves round the edge of
the foot. On this glaze is a design delicately traced in white slip,
thick enough to stand out in sensible relief, with details incised by
means of a pointed instrument. This decoration, spread over the whole
of the vase, is composed of archaic dragons, from the mouths of which
issue scrolled stems with leafy terminations having in some cases the
outline of the sacred _ling-chih_ fungus. The rich ormolu mounting is
characteristic French work of the period of Louis XVI. Below the mouth
of the vase hang festoons of drapery, passing through handles which are
finished downwards with a bunch of grapes and vine-leaves; the foot
is chased with a band of guilloche pattern above a square plinth
with incurved corners. This is probably the workmanship of Levasseur,
one of the host of artist-craftsmen to whose talent the furniture of
eighteenth-century France owes its dignity and refinement. Their taste
and judgment was never better displayed than when objects of beauty
or rarity were handed to them to be enriched by their skill. The vase
before us is a typical case; the porcelain loses nothing of its own
loveliness in becoming the medium for displaying the beauty of the
metalwork.
* * * * *
The numerous minor factories existing in China before the Ming dynasty
were unable to hold their own against the great imperial factory at
Ching-tê-chên. Since the time of its establishment there has been only
one other factory of artistic standing, that of Têhua in the province
of FUCHIEN. It is devoted to the production of plain white porcelain
with a creamy surface, resembling ivory in texture, but varying
considerably in shades of colour. Quantities of Fuchien china were
brought to Europe during the seventeenth century by the various India
Companies. In France, where it received the name of “_blanc de Chine_,”
it provided models for the porcelain makers of St. Cloud, and among
the earliest output of many other European works will be found plain
white cups and teapots with applied sprays of Chinese plum-blossom in
relief, faithfully copying the models of the Têhua factory. Statuettes
and groups of divinities always formed a large proportion of its
productions; the royal collection at Dresden contains a fine series of
such figures, many of them nearly two feet in height, which were among
the porcelain collected by Augustus the Strong of Saxony, through the
agency of the Dutch East India merchants.
The smaller objects made at Têhua are delightful by virtue of their
very simplicity. In the absence of coloured decoration of any kind,
the full charm of the soft white surface can be appreciated. The
specimen illustrated in Plate 6 affords proof that this ware was
highly esteemed by early European collectors. This piece, one of
a pair in the Jones Bequest, was doubtless originally a bottle or
rosewater-sprinkler with bulbous body and narrow tapering neck, but it
has been cut down and fitted with silver-gilt mounts to adapt it to the
purpose of a pastille-burner. The neck has been removed and replaced
by a silver-gilt knob of finely-chased foliage. The shoulder has been
drilled with holes; lower down the porcelain has been cut away for the
insertion of a band engraved with delicate cartouches and rosettes.
The foot of the bottle is raised on a tripod silver-gilt base,
ornamented with three lions’ heads and three grotesque _mascarons_
exquisitely chased. When the piece is turned up, further enrichment
is disclosed underneath it in the form of an engraved design of a
type much in favour about 1700, representing, in a half-grotesque
manner, a squirrel, birds and a hound among trees. The hall-marks with
which the mounts are stamped in several places are unfortunately very
indistinct, but from their form it is clear that they are Parisian
marks of the early years of the eighteenth century. The initials of an
unknown silversmith “P. B.” can easily be made out, while another mark
appears to be that of Étienne Baligny, _fermier général_ from 1703 till
1713; but no marks are necessary to show that we have here French work
in the finest style of the age of Louis XIV. The care bestowed upon
the mounting is sufficient evidence of the value set upon Fuchien
porcelain by European collectors of the time. Further testimony of this
is afforded by the fact already noticed, that the designs and methods
of decoration in vogue at the Têhua potteries were extensively imitated
in the earlier stages of several Western factories. In the blossoming
sprays of plum applied to the body of the piece in our illustration we
recognise the favourite emblem of longevity which is of such constant
occurrence on Chinese objects, lending them a felicitous significance
appropriate to things destined to be given as presents or tokens of
congratulation. The same motive is familiar in the early white china of
Meissen, Bow, and Chelsea, and of St. Cloud, Vincennes, and Sèvres.
PLATE 6
Vase of white porcelain of Têhua in the province of Fuchien,
mounted in silver-gilt of the period of Louis XIV. as a
pastille-burner. Height, 7½ in. Jones Collection.
No. 816-1882. See p. 18.
Unmarked.
[Illustration]
In addition to applied reliefs the Fuchien potters decorated their
porcelain with delicate incised designs, sometimes scarcely perceptible
until closely examined, or with ornaments impressed by means of small
stamps. An instance of the latter method is seen on the foot of the
piece under consideration, which has a repeating border of fret-pattern
lightly impressed in the paste.
* * * * *
The reign of Wan Li was followed by an epoch extending over nearly
half a century which is almost devoid of significance in the history
of porcelain. The invasions of the Manchu Tartars brought to an end
the native Ming dynasty, and gave its last two emperors little leisure
for the patronage of art. The establishment on the throne of the
still-ruling Ch’ing dynasty of Tartar emperors was the opening of a new
era, and the accession of its second monarch, K’ANG HSI, was the signal
for a brilliant artistic renaissance, nowhere more apparent in its
effects than in the wonderful achievements of the imperial porcelain
works at Ching-tê-chên. K’ang Hsi’s reign of sixty years’ duration
covered roughly the same space of time as that of his illustrious
French contemporary, the _Grand Monarque_, who gave the impetus for a
similar revival in the arts of his own kingdom. It was an age of peace
and order following after years of strife and confusion. Energies no
longer required to be spent in warfare were free to be diverted to the
pursuance of the arts of peace.
In the domain of porcelain the outcome of these favourable conditions
is seen in an extraordinary advance along technical lines unparalleled
in the history of ceramics. A white body of the utmost purity, a
glaze fusing so perfectly on to the surface of the paste as to give
an appearance of deep luminosity, underglaze colours and overglaze
enamels unsurpassed in brilliance and liveliness, brought within the
reach of the potter a wonderful variety of effects far beyond anything
that had been attained before. Yet the very technical skill which made
the triumphs of the K’ang Hsi period possible, opened the way for the
artistic decline of the following half century. Virtuosity took the
place of aesthetic spontaneity; while there is undeniable beauty in
the new achievements, they generally lack the vigour and sincerity
of earlier periods when the principles of technique were less well
understood.
The characteristic qualities of K’ang Hsi porcelain are well
illustrated by the vases chosen for the drawings reproduced in Plates 7
and 8. The first of these is a “blue and white” covered vase, formerly
in the collection of Mr. James Orrock, with decoration in shaped panels
reserved on a “powdered blue” ground. Of the four large panels, two
are filled with sprays of flowers, and a third with a selection from
the curious assemblage of objects known as the “Hundred Antiques”
(_Po Ku_), symbolising the elegant arts and accomplishments. In the
remaining panel is a mountainous landscape rendered in the conventional
manner customary in Chinese paintings; the conventions are not such as
we are familiar with in Western art, but once accepted, they will be
found to suggest nature and to perform a decorative function no less
effectively than those of the European designer.
The cobalt-blue is typical of the finest quality of the period; it has
a depth of tone and a limpid brilliancy found only in the reign of
K’ang Hsi, compared with which all but the best blue of other periods
seems dingy and lustreless. The ground colour is carefully sprayed or
splashed on to the vase, and has in consequence on a close inspection
a minutely speckled appearance; to this is owing the intense throbbing
effect which has often been noticed as the peculiar quality of the
blue of this class. This beauty of colour, combined with the faultless
spacing of the decoration, compensates for a certain prim formality
noticeable when comparison is made with the less orderly designs of the
Ming dynasty.
Passing on to Plate 8, we come to a representative of the class of
decoration above all others associated with the K’ang Hsi period. This
class is derived from the “five colour” group, already discussed, of
the later Ming emperors, characterised by painting in enamel colours
fired over the glaze at a comparatively low temperature, and hence
known to French collectors as enamels of the _demi-grand feu_. From
the predominance of green the class is generally termed the “_famille
verte_.” The blue comprised among the five colours of the Ming dynasty
is always an underglaze cobalt painted on the biscuit before the
application of the glaze; but in the majority of pieces of later date,
whether strictly of the “five colour” order or of the derivative
_famille verte_, the blue, like the rest of the pigments, is an
overglaze enamel.
The vase here illustrated is of special interest as exemplifying the
use of both kinds of blue; while in the main decoration an enamel blue
of greyish tone has been employed, there are also two bands, round
the shoulder and base respectively, filled with a diaper pattern in
underglaze blue enclosed between ridges in slight relief. The form of
the vase is that known as “club-shaped.” The scheme of decoration is of
a type which became increasingly prevalent as the eighteenth century
advanced, and departs entirely from the traditions of earlier times.
Instead of a broadly-treated design proportionate to the dimensions of
the vase, the surface is divided into a number of panels of diverse
size and outline, set against a figured groundwork and filled in with
delicate miniature paintings. Two large rectangular panels contain
rocky lake-scenes with figures. Smaller panels enclose some of the
“Hundred Antiques” already alluded to, while in two circular medallions
we see a carp rising from a cataract, beneath a full moon partly hidden
among clouds. This latter subject is an allegory of literary success
attained by perseverance and industry. The allusion is to the legend
according to which the sturgeon of the Hoang Ho river, when they ascend
the stream in the third month of the year, are transformed into dragons
if they succeed in climbing the rapids of the Lung Mên or Dragon
Gate. The green ground of the vase is figured with a close pattern of
conventional lotus-flowers amid small scrolled foliage. The whole is
exquisitely rendered, and composes such a beautiful harmony of colour
as to compel admiration, in spite of the comparative lack of
breadth in the treatment of the design.
PLATE 7
Jar, with Cover, Chinese, period of K’ang Hsi (1662-1722), with
decoration in panels reserved on a powdered blue ground. Height, 18
in. Orrock Collection.
No. 67-1887. See p. 20.
Unmarked.
[Illustration]
To detail all the methods of decoration in vogue in the K’ang Hsi
period, many of them then for the first time introduced, would be
beyond the scope of such a work as this; it must suffice to mention
briefly a few of the most remarkable. Firstly, there are many
varieties of the _famille verte_, the most notable being that in
which naturalistic flowers are relieved against a ground of enamel,
either straw-yellow, green, or lustrous black. The pieces on which
the last-named ground colour occurs form the subdivision known to
connoisseurs as the “_famille noire_”; the Salting Collection includes
a splendid series of vases of this category. Dignity of form is
combined in them with masterly composition in the painting, while the
measure of conventionalism necessitated by the limited palette frees
this type from the imputation of excessive naturalism.
The “blue and white” of the time of K’ang Hsi has already been noticed.
Beautiful effects were obtained where the cobalt was used in harmonious
combination with the other high temperature underglaze pigments, a
greyish celadon-green and the soft crimson obtained from copper.
Another new type of painted ware dating from this time is that in
which the design is entirely carried out in the overglaze iron-red,
first seen amongst the pigments of the “five colour” order. The red of
the K’ang Hsi period, a pure coral-red of the utmost brilliancy, is
generally employed in conventional designs, such as dragons and symbols
or lotus-flowers, symmetrically disposed over the whole surface of a
vase.
Perhaps the greatest glory of the reign are the single-colour and
variegated glazes, reviving and excelling the achievements in this
direction of the Sung dynasty. Chief among these are the crimson, or
“_sang de bœuf_,” and the apple-green associated with the name of Lang
T’ing-tso, viceroy during the beginning of the reign of the province
of Kiangsi, in which the imperial kilns of Ching-tê-chên are situated;
further developments were attained, such as the “peach-bloom,” the
“kingfisher” turquoise-blue, and the revived “_clair de lune_,” when
in 1683 Ts’ang Ying-hsüan was appointed director of the factories.
These wares rank among the most splendid achievements of the potter’s
art; in beauty of form and gorgeousness of colour they have never
been surpassed, while by their nature they are free from the defect
of over-refinement incident to the productions of an age of great
technical discoveries, which has been noticed in speaking of the
painted porcelain.
Lastly, before passing on to the next reign, a word must be said of
the statuettes of divinities and the objects fashioned in the shape of
fruit or living creatures, which are another feature of the K’ang Hsi
renaissance. Painted generally in the enamel colours of the _famille
verte_, these figures are often masterpieces of modelling, instinct
with vivacity and expression.
* * * * *