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Interaction and exchange has taken place across the vast Eurasian continent ever since antiquity. By 138 AD, Chang Ch'ien as emissary of the Han Empire had opened the Yellow River valley as a conduit for transportation with Central and West Asia that became known as the “Silk Road.” Such artistic forms popular in West Asia as winged beasts and horn-shaped rhytons spread east to China as a result. People in the Han dynasty also enjoyed carving fine jade in these shapes, giving them such auspicious connotations as “averting evil” and “delivering prosperity.” |
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Jade pi-hsieh chimera Eastern Han period (25-220)
Shown with Ch'ing dynasty wood stand |
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Jade cup in the shape of a horn with dragon in high relief
Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220)
Shape derived from a rhyton with a rubbing on the right to show surface detail |
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In the Han period, silverwares in the form of lotus blossoms came from the Parthian dynasty in ancient Persia. By the eighth and ninth centuries, during the great T'ang Empire, floral-shaped gold and silver objects also came from the Sassanid Empire and Sogdiana. After a period of acculturation, Chinese porcelains with flowing shapes and solemn glazes incorporated such fruit and floral forms. These non-Chinese plant motifs would later become viewed as part of "typical Chinese art." The seventeenth century also witnessed the arrival of acanthus patterns from Europe and the lotus flower pedestal originating in India, which were synthesized to form the classical and elegant jade bowl with bud-shaped handles from the Mughal Empire on display here. |
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Kuan ware bowl with light bluish-green glaze
Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279)
In the shape of a hibiscus blossom |
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Flat rimmed bowl with two bud-shaped handles
India, Mughal Empire, 17th century
Rubbing of body on the right (without inscription) and bottom, showing plant patterns |
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Starting from the tenth century, trade over both land and sea routes between China and other areas flourished. Porcelains with blue and white decoration originating in Islamic cultural spheres and the art of enamelware that flourished in Eastern Europe both made their way to China and were developed even further, becoming native forms of underglaze blue and enamelware for which China would become renowned. By the eighteenth century, under the patronage of the Ch'ing dynasty emperors, enamels were painted onto porcelain and I-hsing ceramic vessels and fired in kilns to form the opulent yet elegant art of painted enamel porcelain. Slight variations were introduced to the enamel pigments to create dazzling yet subtle new colors, such as light green and rouge red. |
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Gilt bronze and cloisonné enamel incense burner with openwork and ch'ih-dragon handles
Late Ming dynasty, 17th century |
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Teapot and covered tea bowl with floral decoration in fa-lang-ts'ai enamels on I-hsing ware body
Mark and period of the K'ang-hsi reign (1662-1722), Ch'ing dynasty |
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Bowl with green glaze
Mark and period of the Yung-cheng reign (1723-1735), Ch'ing dynasty |
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Bowl with rouge-red glaze
Mark and period of the Yung-cheng reign (1723-1735), Ch'ing dynasty |
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From the mid-seventeenth to eighteenth century, the emperors of the Ch'ing Empire were also quite receptive to foreign cultures, and European Christian missionaries with artistic talents were even given positions at the court as painters. Chinese artists gradually came under their influence and began the study of Western perspective. The painting "A City of Cathay" here, for example, was done by several Chinese court artists, but the rendering of the roads and buildings was done according to the principles of one-point perspective--even Western-style buildings are shown.
The methods of perspective also came to influence artisans who did paintings on porcelains at the Ching-te-chen kilns in Kiangsi. Therefore, the detail of decoration on a porcelain vase in the exhibit featuring Western colors also reveals white enamel pigment to highlight the forms and to cleverly suggest Western techniques of light and shadow, giving the floral pattern an even greater volumetric effect. As it turns out, this technique is not found on the painted enamel porcelains fired in the Forbidden City in Peking. |
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A City of Cathay (detail)
Court artists Ch'en Mei, et al., Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911)
Showing the use of Western perspective |
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Porcelain vase with floral pattern painted in fen-ts'ai enamels
Mark and period of the Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1795), Ch'ing dynasty
Showing the volumetric effect of the flowers and leaves |
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