Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1412-1419 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed
Dimensions:Diameter: 7 centimetres (max) Height: 3 inches Length: 13 centimetres Length: 5.75 inches Width: 14.50 centimetres
Description:
Two heavy L-shaped white porcelain bricks, glazed on one long side only.
IMG
![图片[1]-brick BM-Franks.32-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_RRC65.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Pure fine white porcelain clay was rarely used as a building material in China. Indeed, these heavy L-shaped bricks, glazed on one long side only, would have been considerably more expensive to produce than regular low-fired earthenware tiles. These porcelain bricks were made at the imperial factory at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province. Initially, in 1982, seventeen similar bricks were excavated from the Yongle stratum there, on Zhushan Road. These are misshapen, which to some extent explains why they were discarded. However, in 1994 a further 2,240 Yongle white porcelain bricks were unearthed at Dongmentou, in four different sizes. On a visit to Jingdezhen in 1997 the author saw, piled into a wall at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Research Institute, these materials, which originally may have been buried as spare building materials.These bricks were commissioned for an imperial building of great political significance, namely the ‘Da Bao’en si’, in Zhubaoshan outside Nanjing, the capital city of the time. The Yongle emperor ordered this magnificent tower to be built as part of the temple that was a memorial to his dead parents. Having usurped the throne from his nephew, it was important that he should make a public show of the traditional Confucian virtue of filial piety, thus also strengthening his claim to the throne by making reference to his father, the Hongwu emperor. Construction of the ‘Da Bao’en si’ began in 1412, the main structure of the tower was finished in 1419 and the remainder completed by 1431. As well as with white porcelain bricks, this impressive octagonal structure was covered with green, yellow and brown glazed tiles. The original pagoda was described by Jan Nieuhoff in 1655. It was built in nine storeys, measured 80 m (240 ft) high and was considered ‘one of the seven wonders of the medieval world’.Porcelain bricks such as the present examples brought foreign visitors to refer to the tower as the ‘Porcelain Pagoda’. The tower was destroyed during the Xianfeng reign of the late Qing dynasty by Hong Xiuquan’s army in a battle of the Taiping Rebellion in 1853-4. Similar bricks were found during the Republican period at the site of the ‘Da Bao’en si’ in Nanjing; some of these are now in the Nanjing Museum. Other bricks of this type include three fragments in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (reg. nos 4696-1901, 4696a-1901 and 45-1883). The former two were transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, London, and were thus probably acquired in the period 1831-51. The latter was bought for the Victoria and Albert Museum by Dr Stephen Wootton Bushell in Beijing. Others are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, given in 1889.
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed
Dimensions:Diameter: 7 centimetres (max) Height: 3 inches Length: 13 centimetres Length: 5.75 inches Width: 14.50 centimetres
Description:
Two heavy L-shaped white porcelain bricks, glazed on one long side only.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Pure fine white porcelain clay was rarely used as a building material in China. Indeed, these heavy L-shaped bricks, glazed on one long side only, would have been considerably more expensive to produce than regular low-fired earthenware tiles. These porcelain bricks were made at the imperial factory at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province. Initially, in 1982, seventeen similar bricks were excavated from the Yongle stratum there, on Zhushan Road. These are misshapen, which to some extent explains why they were discarded. However, in 1994 a further 2,240 Yongle white porcelain bricks were unearthed at Dongmentou, in four different sizes. On a visit to Jingdezhen in 1997 the author saw, piled into a wall at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Research Institute, these materials, which originally may have been buried as spare building materials.These bricks were commissioned for an imperial building of great political significance, namely the ‘Da Bao’en si’, in Zhubaoshan outside Nanjing, the capital city of the time. The Yongle emperor ordered this magnificent tower to be built as part of the temple that was a memorial to his dead parents. Having usurped the throne from his nephew, it was important that he should make a public show of the traditional Confucian virtue of filial piety, thus also strengthening his claim to the throne by making reference to his father, the Hongwu emperor. Construction of the ‘Da Bao’en si’ began in 1412, the main structure of the tower was finished in 1419 and the remainder completed by 1431. As well as with white porcelain bricks, this impressive octagonal structure was covered with green, yellow and brown glazed tiles. The original pagoda was described by Jan Nieuhoff in 1655. It was built in nine storeys, measured 80 m (240 ft) high and was considered ‘one of the seven wonders of the medieval world’.Porcelain bricks such as the present examples brought foreign visitors to refer to the tower as the ‘Porcelain Pagoda’. The tower was destroyed during the Xianfeng reign of the late Qing dynasty by Hong Xiuquan’s army in a battle of the Taiping Rebellion in 1853-4. Similar bricks were found during the Republican period at the site of the ‘Da Bao’en si’ in Nanjing; some of these are now in the Nanjing Museum. Other bricks of this type include three fragments in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (reg. nos 4696-1901, 4696a-1901 and 45-1883). The former two were transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, London, and were thus probably acquired in the period 1831-51. The latter was bought for the Victoria and Albert Museum by Dr Stephen Wootton Bushell in Beijing. Others are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, given in 1889.
© Copyright
The copyright of the article belongs to the author, please keep the original link for reprinting.
THE END
