Chinese and Japanese Ceramics

In the thirteenth century, the city of Jingdezhen in
Southern China became the main production centre of porcelain and by
1320, its potters further developed the use of cobalt blue for
underglaze decoration. Underglaze blue decoration dominated ceramics
from the early fourteenth century to the late 1700s. Blue-and-white
porcelain conquered markets in South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe,
and the Americas. It has aptly been called the first truly global
commodity, inspiring some of the major ceramic traditions around the
world.
Blue-and-white porcelain made in Jingdezhen is the main focus of the
Gardiner’s collection of Chinese ceramics. It is especially rich in
objects made during the late Ming and Qing dynasties and illustrates the
broad demand for porcelain through wares made for various markets and
users: the imperial household, the scholar and gentry classes, and the
export market. Pieces in this collection also demonstrate the breadth of
Chinese and export themes and decorative motifs, including Buddhist and
Daoist iconography, auspicious symbols, mythical beings, and scenes
derived from literary sources, while integrating forms from various
cultures.
The collection of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain was established by
Robert Murray Bell and Ann Walker Bell; this was the first donation of
Asian ceramics to the Gardiner Museum. It has since been expanded
through a significant gift from Janice Gross Stein and Susan Gross
Solomon in memory of Anne Romoff Gross.

The decoration on this vase depicts the theme of war and peace. The popular peace narrative shows figures in a landscape. On the lower half is a rare scene of the 'War of Pacification in Nanzhong' from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The deer is associated with good fortune as the Chinese word lu can also mean “wealth” or “official salary.” Pine trees and cranes were sometimes added to signify a wish for a long life.

When Chinese trade in porcelain became disrupted in the
mid-seventeenth century following the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the
Dutch East India Company turned to Japan, where it had an exclusive
foreign monopoly on trade. The Japanese began making porcelain at Arita
sometime around 1620. The earliest wares were decorated in underglaze
blue and are known as Shoko-Imari. Japanese potters soon became masters
of an exceptionally fine white body having discovered naturally mixed
deposits of porcelain clay, with decorations in both underglaze blue and
a distinctive but limited range of overglaze enamel colours. Different
styles of decoration are given different names. Ko-Kutani
emerged in the late 1640s for the domestic market, and is characterized
by bold designs and vivid colours. This was followed in the 1660s by the
Kakiemon style, with more transluscent colours and a tendency to use asymetrical designs, while the Imari style has a darker palette and is often enriched with gilding.
Kakiemon and Imari porcelain became immensely popular in Europe. Most
eighteenth-century and many nineteenth-century European porcelain
manufactories, as well as makers of faïence, copied the forms and
designs of Japanese porcelain. The William and Molly Anne Macdonald
Collection of Japanese Porcelain and Its Influence is one of the great
specialized collections at the Gardiner Museum.

Female figures are called bijin (beautiful women). Kakiemon figures are rare and their production atypical. Cast in moulds, they were first biscuit-fired in the low temperature Kakiemon enamelling kilns (muffle-kilns), next sent to the larger kilns to be glazed and high-fired, and then returned to the Kakiemon workshop for painting and a third firing. The figure’s kimono is decorated with stylized Chinese characters conveying good fortune.

In Japanese mythology, the tortoise lived 10,000 years. Over time waterweeds grew on its shell. Europeans interpreted these waterweeds as flames, hence the name “Flaming Tortoise”.

In 1665, 295 small statuettes on tortoises, which had seated figures on their shells, were exported to Europe: this model is a similar piece.

This rare dish depicts the pine-clad islands of
Matsushima Bay, a famous scenic spot on the coast
of Japan’s main island. The bright Kakiemon enamel
colours are enhanced by the special milky white
body that was created by washing the clay many
times to remove all impurities.

The Gardiner Museum’s holdings of Chinese porcelain include pieces from
other areas of production, including Dehua and Zhangzhou, as well as
examples of polychrome enamel styles of decoration developed during the
Qing Dynasty, namely famille verte and famille rose enamels. Other ceramic bodies, such as earthenware and stoneware, are also represented.

This sculpture would have decorated the central ridge of the roof on a Buddhist temple building. The sculpture depicts a warrior mounted on horseback and was probably intended to protect the building from evil influences. Sculptures of equestrian figures were also used as tomb furnishings.

This piece is an example of Chinese famille-rose export porcelain. Famille rose refers to a particular type of Chinese porcelain decorated with overglaze enamels, one of which is a distinctive pink or red colour derived from colloidal gold. The recipe for making this type of red enamel may have been inspired by information brought to China by European missionaries in the early 18th century.

It was developed by porcelain decorators at Jingdezhen sometime around the 1720s and became quite common on Chinese porcelains from the 1730s onwards.