| |
An extremely fine K’ang Hsi period famille-verte porcelain vase, of a squared baluster form with a squared neck finely enamelled with precious objects, mountain landscapes, blossom trees, birds and dragon within petal and rectangular-shaped reserves against a mottled green ground decorated with butterflies, chrysanthemums, peony and prunus, the shoulder with four petal-shaped reserves enclosing birds on blossom branches, on a shaped wooden stand
Almost certainly made at Ching-tê-chên and enamelled at Canton, Qing dynasty, K’ang Hsi period (1662-1722)
Height 54 cm. Height of the stand 6 cm.
The brilliant famille-verte porcelain, developed during the reign of Emperor K’ang Hsi (1662-1722) took its name from the variety of clear greens, which are characteristic of its style. It replaced the earlier Ming five-colour scheme in which blue was rendered in underglaze and not in enamel. The almost pure white porcelain body was decorated with enamelled iron-red, manganese-purple and antimony-yellow, finished with a thin glassy green overglaze enamel. As here the work was often decorated with petal or leaf-shaped reserves enclosing various themes from mountainous landscapes, mythical beasts, figures, flowers, birds and precious objects. The majority of the enamels appeared to be transparent, and slightly flowed when fired. The exceptions were the overglaze iron red enamel and the under-enamel black, both of which were opaque and did not flow. Towards the end of Emperor K’ang Hsi’s reign an entirely new palette, known as famille-rose was introduced. Here the colours, dominated by a rose-pink introduced from Europe, were mixed with white to achieve an opaque or semi-opaque effect. Classification into families: famille-verte or rose, as well as famille-jaune and noire was a later invention, coined during the nineteenth century by the French writer, Albert Jacquemart.
Like other comparable examples this vase was made specifically for the European export market. Nearly all Chinese porcelain intended for export was made in the Imperial factory at Ching-tê-chên, near Nanking in Kiangsi province. The Imperial factory, founded in 1369 produced nearly all the finest Chinese porcelain from the Ming period onward. Pieces decorated in underglaze blue were painted in the same town but wares with polychrome painting such as the present example, were generally decorated in specialised enamelling shops in the Treaty Port of Canton, where Cantonese enamels were also manufactured. Generally shapes were similar in form to those destined for the home market though certain concessions were made to cater for European tastes and habits, thus plates were made with wide rims and saucers were made for cups. Decoration tended to be more crowded and without the symbolic significance since Europeans preferred picturesque mixtures of flowers, dragons and figures rather than images of the eight deities. At times decoration was derived from European prints including specific armorial dinner services combined with borders of Chinese flowers.
Direct export to the West did not occur until after 1516, when the Portuguese established trading relations with China. But due to civil unrest during the early years of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), production of porcelain was largely interrupted and it was not until about 1680 that the once thriving European export trade was restored. In the intervening years the newly established Japanese porcelain industry, encouraged by the Dutch East India Company, made up for the shortfall in supply. At first the Dutch wanted Chinese-style blue and white, but gradually the native ‘brocaded’ Kakiemon-type wares assumed popularity. As a result of this new challenge the Chinese introduced famille-verte decoration, which greatly appealed to the eighteenth century European taste, as much as it does today.
|
|
/images/left.gif){kind=small}
