A Book of Porcelain: Fine examples in the Victoria & Albert Museum

by Bernard Rackham

No. 229-1890. See p. [41].

Unmarked.

In the classes of porcelain which have hitherto been dealt with, the decoration has been effected either by cutting into the surface with a pointed instrument or moulding it in relief, or by the addition of colouring materials to the glaze. We must now consider the method most widely prevalent in recent times, namely, that of painting on the surface either before or after glazing. In China this method came into use at a comparatively late period. Elsewhere it had been known for many centuries as a means of ceramic decoration. In Persia, for example, painted designs are met with on the pottery found by French excavators in the lowest stratum on the site of the city of Susa, dating possibly from 5000 years before Christ, while on the semi-porcellanous ware of ancient Egypt painting is of common occurrence. It was widespread as a ceramic process in the Near East and the countries round the Mediterranean long before it was practised by the Chinese. The earliest painted wares of China certainly do not date back before the Sung dynasty, and it is doubtful whether even so great an age as this can be ascribed to them.

There is a class of vases painted in a strong dark brown with roughly-drawn ornament of Buddhistic character, which are probably not more recent than the earliest years of the Ming dynasty, and may date from the latter part of the Sung period. They were made at Tzŭ-chou, in the province of Honan. Several examples of this kind are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, most of them painted with spirited designs of lotus-flowers and leafy scrollwork, sometimes with birds introduced amongst the foliage. One vase is decorated with four shaped panels, three enclosing lotus-flowers, while in the fourth is a crude figure of a Buddhist monk. These vases are worthy of special attention, as they appear to mark the point at which a step forward was taken of far-reaching significance in its effect on Chinese ceramics. The introduction of the painter’s brush among the implements of the Chinese potter led the way to developments which placed him above his fellow-craftsmen in other lands, amongst whom this branch of the art had been familiar in much earlier ages.

Of all the materials employed as pigments in the decoration of porcelain, the most important and the most widespread in use is cobalt-blue. It is said that this colour was first introduced into China from the west of Asia as early as the tenth century, but it does not appear to have been used for painting before the thirteenth century. In this connection mention may be made of a miniature vase at South Kensington of the cream-coloured Ting ware already alluded to, which is painted with indistinct markings in cobalt-blue. It may be that such pieces as this can rightly be referred back to the end of the Sung dynasty, and that we have in them the first manifestations of the great family of “blue and white” china, which in the eyes of the world at large represents Chinese porcelain par excellence.

Be that as it may, it was not till the time of the Ming emperors that there was any extensive production of painted “blue and white” porcelain. The earliest extant pieces that can be dated with any degree of certainty are ascribable to the reign of the emperor Hsüan Tê (1426–1435). There is a small bowl of this period in the Salting Collection. It is remarkable as well for the quality of the glaze, resembling vellum in its texture, as for the soft greyish tones of the cobalt used in the delicate painting of chrysanthemums and other flowering plants.

Two other pieces bearing the mark of Hsüan Tê are to be seen at South Kensington, but although they belong undoubtedly to the Ming dynasty, it cannot be regarded as certain that the mark upon them indicates their actual age. One of these is a bowl painted with a design of trees, the pine, peach, and bamboo, symbolising long life, and the pomegranate, which is the emblem of fecundity; by a quaint conceit the trunks of the trees are distorted into the form of the characters fu (“happiness”) and shou (“longevity”). The other specimen is a tall cylindrical vase, bearing the mark in a cartouche on the border, as it is sometimes found on porcelain of the later Wan Li period. It is decorated with conventional lotus-flowers in three horizontal bands, painted in dark cobalt-blue and the underglaze crimson obtained from copper, which ranks with cobalt as one of the earliest pigments used in Chinese ceramics. A noticeable feature of the painting is the way in which the leaves and petals are darkened by a stippling of dots over a lighter wash of colour.

Another interesting jar, of six-sided form and undoubtedly early in date, has floral ornament executed in dark blue, approaching to black where heavily laid on, which recalls the designs occurring on the hexagonal tiles from the Great Mosque at Damascus. The Persian chased brass rim with which the jar is mounted indicates the channel through which it has come to the West. The Damascus tiles are believed to date from the fifteenth century, and the resemblance between them and the jar in question is so striking as to suggest that they were painted under direct Chinese influence. This view is confirmed by the occurrence among the motives upon them of the Far Eastern chrysanthemum.