The most remarkable collection of Chinese export porcelain is illustrated by Professor Sarre[174] from a photograph which he was able to make of the Chini-hane or porcelain house attached to the mosque of Ardebil, in Persia. Ranged on the floor are some five hundred specimens—jars, vases, ewers, and stacks of plates, bowls and dishes, many of which had formerly occupied niches in the walls of the building erected by Shah Abbas the Great[175] (1587–1628). Unfortunately, the conditions were not favourable to photography, and the picture, valuable as it is, only permits a clear view of the nearer objects, the rest being out of focus and represented by mere shadows of themselves. They are, we are told, mainly blue and white, but with a sprinkling of coloured pieces, and it is clear from the picture that they belong to various periods of the Ming dynasty, mostly to the later part. They include, no doubt, presents from the Chinese Court,[176] besides the porcelains which came in the ordinary way of trade, and we recognise a large vase almost identical with the fine Chia Ching specimen on Plate [72]: a small-mouthed, baluster-shaped vase, similar in form and decoration to a marked Wan Li specimen in the Pierpont Morgan Collection[177]; a bowl with lotus scrolls in blotchy blue, recalling the style of Plate [67], Fig. 4; a ewer with the curious fountain design described on p. [67]; besides a number of the ordinary late Ming export types and some celadon jars and bulb bowls of a slightly earlier period. Some of the pots, we are told, are almost a metre in height. Among the tantalising forms in the indistinct background are some large covered jars with a series of loop-handles on the shoulders, such as are found in Borneo and the East Indies (see vol. i., p. [189]).
One of the most attractive types of late Ming export porcelain, and at the same time the most easily recognised, consists of ewers, bowls, and dishes of thin, crisp porcelain with characteristic designs in pale, pure blue of silvery tone; see Plate [77], Fig. 1. The ware is of fine, white, unctuous material with a tendency (not very marked) to turn brown at the foot rim and in parts where the glaze is wanting. The glaze partakes of the faintly greenish tinge common to Ming wares, but it is clear and of high lustre. Here, again, a little sand or grit occasionally adhering to the foot rim and radiating lines lightly scored in the base indicate a summary finish which detracts from the artistic effect no more than the obviously rapid though skilful brushwork of the decoration. Sharply moulded forms and crinkled borders, admirably suited to this thin crisp material, give additional play to the lustrous glaze, and the general feeling of the ware is well expressed by Mr. F. Perzynski[178] in his excellent study of the late Ming blue and white porcelains, in which he remarks that “the artists of this group have used thin, brittle material more like flexible metal than porcelain.”
The designs as shown in the illustration are typical of the ware.
PLATE 77
Two examples of Ming Blue and White Porcelain in the British Museum
Fig. 1.—Ewer of thin, crisp porcelain with foliate mouth and rustic spout with leaf attachments. Panels of figure subjects and landscapes on the body: “rat and vine” pattern on the neck and a band of hexagon diaper enclosing a cash symbol. Latter half of the sixteenth century. Height 7 inches.
Fig. 2.—Octagonal stand perhaps for artist’s colours. On the sides are scenes from the life of a sage; borders of ju-i pattern and gadroons. On the top are lions sporting with brocade balls. Painted in deep Mohammedan blue. Mark of the Chia Ching period (1522–1566). Diameter 4¾ inches.
A freely drawn figure of a man or woman usually in garden surroundings, standing before a fantastic rock or seated by a table and a picture-screen often form the leading motive, though this is varied by landscape, floral compositions, spirited drawings of birds (an eagle on a rock, geese in a marsh, a singing bird on a bough), or a large cicada on a stone among plants and grasses. The borders of dishes and the exteriors of bowls are divided into radiating compartments (often with the divisions lightly moulded) filled with figures, plant designs, symbols, and the like, and separated by narrow bands with pendent jewels and tasselled cords, which form perhaps the most constant characteristics of the group. Small passages of brocade diapers with swastika fret, hexagon and matting patterns, are used to fill up the spaces. The finer examples of this group are of admirable delicacy both in colour and design; but the type lasted well into the seventeenth century and became coarse and vulgarised. It appears in a debased form in the large dishes which were made in quantity for the Persian and Indian markets, overloaded with crudely drawn brocade diapers and painted in dull indigo blue, which is often badly fired and verges on black. The central designs on these dishes, deer in a forest, birds in marsh, etc., usually betray strong Persian influence.
I am not aware of any specimens of this group, either of the earlier or the more debased kinds which bear date-marks, but still a clear indication of the period is given by various circumstances. A bowl in the National Museum at Munich is credibly stated to have belonged to William V., Duke of Bavaria (1579–1597),[179] and a beautiful specimen, also a bowl, with silver-gilt mount of about 1585, is illustrated by Mr. Perzynski.[180] The characteristic designs of this ware are commonplace on the Persian pottery of the early seventeenth century, and a Persian blue and white ewer in the British Museum, which is dated 1616, clearly reflects the same style. The shallow dishes with moulded sides are frequently reproduced in the still-life pictures by the Dutch masters of the seventeenth century, from whose work many precious hints may be taken by the student of ceramics. To give one instance only, there are two such pictures[181] in the Dresden Gallery from the brush of Frans Snyders (1579–1657).