Dish with flowering trees

Polychrome–Ku Yueh Hsuan type
Bowl. Shallow with slightly everted lip, low foot rim. Ivory stand.
Body: fine-grained white porcelain.
Glaze: perfectly transparent white, fine orange skin texture.
Decoration: overglaze enamels; floral pattern, calligraphy and 3 seals on pistachio green ground outside.
Mark: four-characters, of the Yung Cheng (Yongzheng) period in overglaze blue enamel on base.

Historical period(s)
Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period, 1723-1735
Medium
Porcelain with enamels over colorless clear glaze
Style
Jingdezhen ware
Dimensions
H x W: 4.4 x 17.2 cm (1 3/4 x 6 3/4 in)
Geography
China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1928.4a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bowl

Keywords
China, flower, Guyuexuan ware, porcelain, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
Provenance

1928
Yamanaka and Company, New York 1928 [1]

From 1928
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yamanaka and Company, New York in 1928 [2]

Notes:

[1] See Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Yamanaka and Co. 1917-1965

Description

Polychrome--Ku Yueh Hsuan type
Bowl. Shallow with slightly everted lip, low foot rim. Ivory stand.
Body: fine-grained white porcelain.
Glaze: perfectly transparent white, fine orange skin texture.
Decoration: overglaze enamels; floral pattern, calligraphy and 3 seals on pistachio green ground outside.
Mark: four-characters, of the Yung Cheng (Yongzheng) period in overglaze blue enamel on base.

Marking(s)

Mark: four-characters, of the Yung Cheng (Yongzheng) period in overglaze blue enamel on base.

Label

Blossoming at the Chinese new year, camellia and flowering plum trees are popular symbols of spring renewal.  The verse on this dish likens the trees and their delicate blossoms to beautiful women: "Lightly made up and casting scattered shadows, they lean toward each other."  Inclusion of the poem on this porcelain dish encourages comparison of the decor with a painting bearing the Three Perfections (poetry, calligraphy, and painting).  The background of opaque color, however, exploits an aesthetic new to porcelain decoration of the early eighteenth century.  The use of strong color demonstrates too that ceramic decor remained an independent art form even though it was influenced by works on paper.

Published References
  • Hugh M. Moss. By Imperial Command: An Introduction to Ch'ing Imperial Painted Enamels. 2 vols., Hong Kong. vol. 1: pp. 75-77, pl. 59.
  • Li Hui-lin. Garden Flowers of China. Chronica Botanica, An International Biological and Agricultural Series, no. 19 New York. pl. 18.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 39.
  • Toki Zenshu. 32 vols., Tokyo, 1957 - 1963. pl. 31.
  • F. St. G. Spendlove. Ku Yueh Hsuan Imperial Porcelain. vol. 10, no. 5 New York, October 1938. p. 14.
  • Koyama Fujio. Ming and Ch'ing Ceramics: Their Collections in Japan, Europe and America. no. 151 Tokyo, November 1963. p. 27, fig. 5.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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