Chinese Porcelain

1 June 1988

Interior Design

Of all the facets of Oriental art, including calligraphy and painting,
Chinese procelain is the one that strikes a universal chord. The
potter's art has forged the strongest link between the culture of China
and that of the rest of the world, a remarkable achievement for an art
that started as a craft. The origins of Chinese pottery-making are
steeped in legend. Shards of tomb vases and house-hold implements dating
to prehistoric times, 3000-2500 BC, have been discovered in recent
excavations. Some of these neolithic fragments were plain, others were
adorned with fine painted designs. Bits and pieces also prove that, in
addition to painted and unpainted pottery, the prehistoric in Chinese
made glazed earthenware -- indicating that this form of creative
endeavor is a thousand years older than had previously been thought.

From these ancient times to the present, the art and techniques of fine
porcelain making have evolved through many periods and dynasties. Here
are some of the most important.

The Han Dynasty (206 Bc-220 AD)

During this period of external expansion and internal progress, advances
were made in all fields of art. The glazing of pottery became a common
practice. Earthenware was usually red or slate gray, and it was
decorated with an enamel of a grayish yellow color made of lead stained
with copper oxide. On the red clay this produced a green color, which
varied in intensity according to the thickness of the glaze. The custom
of marking earthenware vases dates back to this dynasty. The mark was
engraved on the base, but marked pieces from this era are rare.

The T'ang Dynasty (618-907)

After 300 years of chaos, the T'ang Dynasty brought an era of peace and
prosperity. Much of the earthenware of this period was still made for
burial purposes, but great advances in technique were apparent. Potters
used polychrome painted enamel decoration, producing pieces with clearly
defined patterns in color. This was done by cutting channels in the clay
which kept the colored glazes from running into each other. The typical
T'ang pottery was of a whittish, grayish or pinkish clay, of a
consistency varying from soft earthenware to stoneware, and covered with
thin lead glaze, often in a single color -- green, yellow or blue. There
was also irregular splashing and flecking of colored glazes -- green,
amber and blue on a yellowish background.

The Sung Dynasty (960-1279)

The art of this time communicates a felling of serenity and harmony,
even though the country was insecure politically and economically.
Porcelain was, for the first time, prized for its artistic perfection
rather than solely for its utility. Celadon ware was the most popular
porcelain; it was valued for the color of its glaze -- a subtle olive,
sea or celery green. The finest pieces made for Chinese use were
intended to suggest jade. Other colors were experimented with at Chun
Chou. This ware, of white or yellow clay was heavily enameled in a wide
and gorgeous range of hues, shading from light blue to deep purple.

The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)

China was absorbed into the vast Mongol empire in 1280. The pottery and
porcelain kilns continued to operate during this difficult period, but
this production did not come up to the Sung standard. There was,
however, a great deal of experimentation. The technique of painting
white vessels with underglaze blue was perfected. Overglaze painting in
transparent enamels was also a popular technique.

The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

By the time the Mongol dynasty was overthrown, the Chinese potters were
ready for the renaissance of the porcelain industry that came into ful
flower during this era. Enormous pieces were made and exuberantly
decorated. Porcelain was used for furniture, for wall treatments, for
roof tiles and for pagodas. In addition to the celadon, peachbloom and
blanc de chine (or white ware), blue and white, turquoise, yellow,
crimson, brown and black glazes were admired. Besides painting, other
processes were used to decorate porcelain -- embossing, chiseling and
openwork carving.

The Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1912)

The Chinese empire again fell into the hands of alien rulers when the
Manchus established the Ch'ing (Pure) dynasty in 1644. At first all was
chaos, but by the end of the century there was fresh flood of creative
energy in the ceramic arts. New monochromatic glazes were developed --
the most important a red, derived from copper and known as sang de
boeuf. Others were deep blue, peacock green, eel-skin yellow, powder
blue, mirror black with gold flecks, green-black, applegreen, iron-red,
tea dust and iron dust.

The French terms famille verte and famille rose were coined to describe
two groups of porcelain that were created during this period for local
use as well as for export to the European market. The famille verte
group, which was hard glaze porcelain, was painted on a white glazed
surface in jewel-like enamels of green, eggplant, yellow, violet-blue
and coral-red, with green predominant. The famille rose group, which was
called soft glaze, featured a rose-pink taht derives from the use of
precipitate of gold. In this porcelain, the pink, deepest crimson to
palest pearl pink, replaces green as the primary color.

The peony vase pictured here is porcelain from the Tung Chih period
(1862-1865). It was made in the province of Kuang Hsi where much of the
Imperial porcelain was designed and made. Its graceful lines and
exquisite painting would make it a valuable addition to any decor.

PHOTO: This handsome bottle-shaped vase with five-color enamel
decoration can be found at China Importing Company on East 10th Street
in New York.

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