“Blue-and-white porcelain” is a kind of under-glaze painted porcelain. The pigment combined with cobalt, which was first seen in Tang dynasties. In the late Yuan dynasty, with the development of Jingdezhen as the center, the blue-and-white porcelains stepped into maturity, while its unique artistic beauty had opened a new era of Chinese porcelain production, and once led to the development of the ceramic industry in European and Asian countries.
The collection includes the typical blue-and-white porcelains from Yuan dynasty sold to Middle East, the essential porcelains from official kilns and folk kilns in Ming and Qing dynasties, and exported porcelains in trade, which fully demonstrated the 600 years of the characteristics of the porcelain category in different backgrounds that were liked in the royal, popular in the folk and best-selling abroad.
Wanli Period in Ming Dynasty
Vase with Blue-and-white Floral, Birds, Ganoderma, and Dragon Patterns
Vase with Blue-and-white Floral, Birds, Ganoderma, and Dragon Patterns
Wanli Period in Ming Dynasty
Height 69.5 cm
Zhu Yijun, Shenzong of Ming dynasty, is the longest reign of the Ming dynasty. In this period, Jingdezhen imperial kiln made numerous blue-and-white porcelains for the court, and there are also many outstanding manifestations in the shape and ornamentation. This piece of vase with blue-and-white floral, birds, ganoderma, and dragon patterns is made from the bronze gu-shaped artifact of the Shang-Zhou period, which was peculiar to Wanli period. The body of the vase is made by segmented method. From the top to bottom, it is respectively painted with banana leaves, clouds and dragon, twining ganoderma, two dragons playing with the pearl, peacock near lake and flowers, flowers and ganoderma from longevity mountain and happiness ocean, etc. patterns. The layout is orderly dense, and the scene is naturally unadorned. Along the bottleneck, there are regular script “Made in Wanli of Great Ming”, six words horizontally placed. The blue-and-white porcelains were still using long brush to fill the decorative patterns. However, due to the use of cobalt material from the Zhejiang region, most of the blue color were with gray hue, which formed a very distinctive characteristic.
Yuan Dynasty
Plate with Blue-and-white Pisces Algae Pattern
Plate with Blue-and-white Pisces Algae Pattern
Yuan Dynasty
Diameter 46 cm
The blue-and-white porcelains of Yuan dynasty were deeply influenced by the paintings of Song and Yuan dynasties. The emphasis of “use of ink completes colors” in painting reflected in the blue and white as the distribution of shade of colors. The so-called water separation techniques were beginning to emerge. This piece of plate with blue-and-white Pisces algae pattern of Yuan dynasty has the fish and algae pattern as the theme in the heart of the plate. The fish pattern uses the fine brush to outline the contour and large brush to fill the color. The whole painting is realistic and lifelike. The fish head and back color is thicker, which gradually turns pale to the abdomen. The deep color of the head and back is contrasted with the plain abdomen and the dorsal fin, which enhances the stereoscopic effect of the fish pattern in the multi-angle image. The whole artifact uses fine brushwork, which is rich in layers, clear in the theme. The glaze and techniques all present the typical blue-and-white style of Yuan dynasty.
Qianlong Period in Qing Dynasty
Flat Pot with Blue-and-white Happiness and Longevity Pattern
Flat Pot with Blue-and-white Happiness and Longevity Pattern
Qianlong Period in Qing Dynasty
Height 50.5 cm
In Qianlong period, the blue-and-white porcelains appeared endless ingenious styles based on the former dynasty. In addition to adhering to the overall shape of the neat standard, and proportional coordination of aesthetic interest, the porcelains were often beautified with ear ornaments. This piece of flat pot with blue-and-white happiness and longevity pattern are decorated with symmetrical Kui dragon ears on the mouth, short neck, and shoulder intersection. It has oblate abdomen. The oval foot of the pot has vertical seal characters of “Made in Qianlong of Great Qing”, six words written vertically. The layout of the artifact is in order, with bats as the center, which are surrounded with peaches and twining lotus flowers. Among them, the bats and peaches mean “longevity and happiness”, and the twining lotus flowers mean stretching from the ancient. The entire scene composition is festive and auspicious. This kind of flat pot in “Qianlong Chronicle File” is called “Xuan kiln blue-and-white large horse hanging bottle”. In “The Various Artifacts Files of Qing Dynasty” of Yangxin Hall, it is cited as “Xuan kiln blue-and-white short neck porcelain with a pair of Kui Dragon ears”. It should be modified from the Ming dynasty style, made in the 3rd year of Qianlong (1738) by imperial kiln. It was the Emperor Qianlong’s favorite because of its elegant character, and was made consequently many times. This piece of flat pot, in shape and glaze color, deliberately imitates the blue-and-white porcelains in Xuande Period of Ming dynasty. The many use of dot dyeing technique deliberately creates the green rust stripe effect of Xuande blue-and-white porcelains, but its close symmetry, and the distinct level of decorative pattern layouts show the typical style and features of the blue-and-white porcelains of Qianlong period.
Yongzheng Period in Qing Dynasty
Plate with Blue-and-white, Red-colored Waves, Clouds and Dragon Pattern
Plate with Blue-and-white, Red-colored Waves, Clouds and Dragon Pattern
Yongzheng Period in Qing Dynasty
Diameter 48 cm
The red-colored technique of the blue-and-white porcelains was first seen in Xuande period of Ming dynasty. Since then, although the Qing dynasty deliberately imitated it, the bright red color was not as smooth as Xuande’s. This piece of plate with blue-and-white, red-colored waves, clouds and dragon pattern has folded rim, shallow arc wall, and circle foot. The artifact adopts blue and white under glaze and red on the glaze. There is a dragon playing with the ball in the center of the plate, Inside and outside of the plate is painted with two pairs of rolling clouds and dragon pattern, while the rim has another wave pattern. The blue and white delineate the sea and clouds, and the red paints nine dragons and fire ball. On the bottom of the plate, there are regular scripts of “Made of Yongzheng in Great Qing”, written vertically. The body of the artifact is well-balanced, white and delicate, with bright blue and white color, and beautiful red color. The overall shape is structured and the decorations are fine. The plate’s red dragon pattern layout is exquisite, and the nine dragons are first painted eyes by blue-and-white point. After firing, its dragon body is depicted with red color, following the position of eyes. There are especially two pairs of dragons on the inner and out plate, and each has five claw and three claw pairs. Fish tail dragon pattern with wings is three claws, elephant nose dragon pattern has five. This combination can be regarded as the unique style of Yongzheng, or it can be the innovation of Jingdezhen imperial kiln under the supervision of Tang Ying.
Qianlong Period in Qing Dynasty
Hexagonal Shape Vase with Blue-and-white Folded Branches, Floral and Fruit Pattern
Hexagonal Shape Vase with Blue-and-white Folded Branches, Floral and Fruit Pattern
Qianlong Period in Qing Dynasty
Height 69 cm
This piece of hexagonal shape vase with blue-and-white folded branches, floral and fruit pattern opens like a horn, with a thick long neck, an oblique shoulder, a round abdomen that retracts downward in arc, a slightly outstretching foot on the bottom. It is hexagonal from the rim to the foot. The neck and abdomen are decorated with patterned peony, lotus, chrysanthemum and other flower patterns, peach, pomegranate, persimmon and other fruit patterns, and the bottom of the branches are decorated with ganoderma patterns. The rest part has Hui pattern, cloud pattern and all kinds of western floral patterns, etc., seven decorative belts in total. The bottom vertically writes ‘Made in Qianlong of Great Qing” in seal characters. The center of the words has a round hole, which was drilled by later generations to use as a lamp holder. This vase is elegant and its blue-and-white glaze and floral patterns imitate the Xuande style. But the root of the flowers with decoration of ganoderma patterns may be created in Yongzheng period. The use of western floral pattern adds a new element of western art into the artifact, which is a masterpiece of the combination of tradition and innovation in Qianlong period.
Ming Dynasty
Pot with Blue-and-white Human Pattern
Pot with Blue-and-white Human Pattern
Ming Dynasty
Height 35 cm
The Zhengtong, Jingtai, Tianshun periods of Ming dynasty were not prosperous, when Jindezhen imperial kiln production was relatively low. Since the early study did not find a clear date of the porcelain from governmental kilns, the academia has called this period of the time for Chinese ceramics in the history of blank or dark period. But in fact, the blue-and-white porcelains still developed since Yongxuan period. This piece of pot with blue-and-white human pattern has a short neck and full shoulder, a bulging abdomen retracting in, and a circle foot stretching out. There are circular Hui pattern on the neck, deformation of the lotus petal pattern on the shoulder, eight immortals celebrating birthday as the main pattern on the abdomen, sea wave pattern near the bottom, and no mark on the artifact. The overall shape is stocky and vigorous, and the strokes are naturally fluent. The blue and white is bright with purple, with slightly black blemish spot. It has the style of the later Xuande period, but it is more bold and unstrained than Xuande products, and it is a typical blue-and-white porcelain in the black period of Ming dynasty.
Yongzheng Period in Qing Dynasty
Plate with Blue-and-white Floral and Dragon Pattern
Plate with Blue-and-white Floral and Dragon Pattern
Yongzheng Period in Qing Dynasty
口径50.3cm
The blue-and-white porcelains of imperial kilns in Yongzheng period was famous for exquisite elegance. This piece of plate with blue-and-white floral and dragon pattern has a wide open, arc abdomen, circle foot, inside which vertically writes “Made in Yongzheng of Great Qing” in regular scripts. The inner rim of the plate is lined with wave patterns. Inside and outside of the abdomen has a pair of dragon, surrounded by a subsidiary floral pattern. In the center of the plate, it is also painted with a flying winged dragon through flowers. The dragon body is vigorous and powerful as it prances among the flowers. The winged dragon was called Ying dragon in ancient, which can call winds and rain as an auspicious creature in the legends. The body of the artifact is white, with bright blue-and-white and fine artwork. The decorations are dotted with black blemishes, with a slightly restrained feeling in the smooth lines, which is typical imitation of the Yongxuan period in Ming dynasty.
Jiajing Period in Ming Dynasty
Pot with Blue-and-white Cloud Crane Pattern
Pot with Blue-and-white Cloud Crane Pattern
Jiajing Period in Ming Dynasty
Height 46.7 cm
This piece of artifact is painted with cloud crane and ganoderma etc. patterns, while the residual gaps are filled with blue and white ground, which forms the decorative effect of the blue ground with white flowers. The technique of blue ground with white flowers since Yuan dynasty is a special form of decoration, which producing technique is similar to the line drawing in painting. It is to outline the contour of the pattern with blue, but without filling in the dyeing material to form white flower pattern, as the residual gaps are painted with cobalt material. In Jiajing period, the blue ground with white flowers technique changed based on the former period. It used more of the emperor’s preferred auspicious cloud crane pattern, and painted the part of the cloud as rolled ganoderma pattern. It used fine brush to outline and long brush to flatly paint, which were natural and unique. The deep concentration of cobalt characteristics also make the blue-and-white porcelains to remove the uneven color and rust from the early production, which makes the scene brighter and cleaner.
Xuande Period in Ming Dynasty
Pen Box with Blue-and-white Three Friends, Four Seasons Floral Pattern
Pen Box with Blue-and-white Three Friends, Four Seasons Floral Pattern
Xuande Period in Ming Dynasty
Length 31.5 cm
To write the emperor’s year on artifacts is a feature of the blue-and-white porcelains in Yongxuan period. So far, the earliest emperor’s year inscription on blue-and-white porcelains was seen in Yongle period, and became a habit in Xuande period. However, because the inscriptions were usually not on the same spot, there is the saying “inscriptions all over the artifacts” in Xuande period. This piece of pen box with blue-and-white three friends, four seasons floral pattern is composed of a box lid and a box body. The box lid is a rounded rectangle, and the box body has three compartments, which are quite special in shape and should be the imitation of the Middle Eastern metal pen box. Inside and outside the pen box, there are depictions of three friends of winter and Chinese flowering crabapple shape, rectangular, and blessed patterns from four seasons floral patterns. The inner surface of the lid and the outer side of the body each have an inscription “Made in Xuande of Great Ming”, the six words in horizontal regular scripts. There are not many two inscriptions on one artifact in the governmental kilns, which can be seen that such artifacts should be particularly valued in court.
Yuan Dynasty
Plum Bottle with Blue-and-white Cloud and Dragon Pattern
Plum Bottle with Blue-and-white Cloud and Dragon Pattern
Yuan Dynasty
Height 41 cm
The plum bottle is known for small mouth that can only contain plum branches, and is known as “Jing Ping” in Song dynasty. The modeling has a small mouth, a short neck, an abundant shoulder, a converged abdomen, and a slender body. This piece of blue-and-white plum bottle with cloud and dragon pattern has a bright white body, clear glaze, blue deep as sapphire, a plumb and elegant shape, and exquisite decorations. The bottle body has three drawn horizontal decorative belt with cobalt material. The shoulder has a circle of deformed lotus petal veins, filled with silver, fire beads, Falun, coral sticks, rhinoceros’ horns, Paiban, tritons etc. miscellaneous treasures. The abdomen is painted four-claw cloud dragon pattern as the whole theme of the decoration. The shin is decorated with inner-filled upturned lotus pattern that is deformed dropping floral pattern. Between the decoration belts, the whole modeling leaves blank space, which is different from the general plum bottle with string or rolling pattern as the separation. It strengthens the contrast of the white ground and blue patterns, which creates a sense of freshness.
Yuan Dynasty
Blue-and-white Flat Pot with Two Dragons Frolicking with a Pearl Pattern
Blue-and-white Flat Pot with Two Dragons Frolicking with a Pearl Pattern
Yuan Dynasty
Height 40.8 cm
This piece of blue-and-white flat pot with two dragons frolicking with a pearl from Yuan dynasty has four dragon handles, a short neck, two flat round shoulders, flat and rectangular abdomen. On the shoulders, there are two dragons on each of the two sides, which has both practical meaning and balanced function in vision. The pot body is full of painted blue-and-white decorations, including folded lotus pattern on the neck, Ruyi cloud pattern filled with two flying and variant phoenixes in the two flowers, one for the chrysanthemum and one for pomegranate, on the upper abdomen, a pair of dragons playing a pearl ball with cloud and wave patterns up and down on the lower abdomen, Ruyi cloud patterns and twining lotus patterns on both sides of the pot body. White and blue in the colors, the sparse and dense in the composition, the dragon and phoenix in the pattern, the double phoenixes and dragons in the layout, all make the whole pot surface of the formation of a sharp contrast, highlighting a strong pattern and dramatic effects.
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