altar-vase BM-PDF-B.613

Period:Yuan dynasty Production date:1351
Materials:porcelain
Technique:underglazed, incised, glazed, painted,

Dimensions:Diameter: 220 millimetres Height: 636 millimetres

Description:
Large porcelain altar-vase of ancient bronze form. Two applied elephant head handles. Underglaze blue with scrolling four-clawed dragon, facing right with mouth closed, in clouds around the main part. Band of scrolling peonies, overlapping plantain leaves and long inscription on upper part of neck, and phoenixes in clouds on lower part. Scrolling peonies on foot.
IMG


Comments:Published PDF date : Yuan AD 1351 Room 95 label text:PDF B613 One of the ‘David Vases’These altar vases are the best-known porcelains in the world. Their importance lies in the dated inscriptions on one side of their necks above the bands of dragons. The long dedication is the earliest known on blue-and-white wares. It records that in AD 1351 a man named Zhang Wenjin from Yushan county 玉山縣 presented two vases and an incense burner (the whereabouts of which is unknown), to a Daoist temple in Xingyuan星源 (modern day Wuyuan county婺源縣). Yushan county is in northeast Jiangxi, which lies 120 km southeast of Jingdezhen, where these vases were made. This inscription demonstrates that blue-and-white porcelain production was already well-established at Jingdezhen by AD 1351. Originally the vases, modelled after bronzes, had porcelain rings attached through the elephant head shaped handles. The inscription reads 信州路。玉山縣。順城鄉。德教里。荊塘社。奉聖弟子。張文進。喜捨。香炉。花瓶。一付。祈保。合家清吉。子女平安。至正十一年。四月。良辰。吉日捨。星源。祖殿。胡淨一元帥。打供。[Zhang Wenjin, from Jingtang community, Dejiao village, Shuncheng township, Yushan county, Xinzhou circuit, a disciple of the Holy Gods, is pleased to offer a set comprising one incense burner and a pair of flower vases to General Hu Jingyi at the Original Palace in Xingyuan, as a prayer for the protection and blessing of the whole family and for the peace of his sons and daughters. Offered on an auspicious day in the 4th month, 11th Year of the Zhizheng reign.]Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decorationJingdezhen, Jiangxi province 江西省, 景德鎮Yuan dynasty, dated equivalent to AD1351 PDF B613 “大維德對瓶”之一這對廟供大瓶屬世界上最為有名者。其重要性在於瓷瓶龍紋帶以上的頸部一側寫有紀年銘文。這一供奉長銘是已知青花瓷器上年代最早的。據銘文，1351年玉山縣名叫張文進的男子，向星源（今婺源縣）的一座道觀進奉了這對花瓶和一件香爐（香爐迄今下落不明）。玉山县在江西省東北部，位於大瓶產地景德鎮東南120公里處。這段銘文说明景德鎮的青花瓷器製作在1351年已经相当成熟。这对青花大瓶造型源自銅器，瓶颈两侧的象首耳內原應带有瓷質圓環。銘文讀作“信州路玉山縣，順城鄉德教里荊塘社，奉聖弟子張文進，喜捨香炉花瓶一付，祈保合家清吉、子女平安。至正十一年四月良辰吉日捨，星源祖殿胡淨一元帥打供。”瓷器，青花江西省景德鎮元代，1351年紀年銘文