Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1450-1500 (circa)
Materials:stoneware
Technique:moulded, glazed, fahua,
Subjects:tree/bush landscape official servant/domestic worker equestrian
Dimensions:Diameter: 36 centimetres Height: 42.50 centimetres
Description:
Stoneware jar with decoration in openwork and relief with ‘fahua’-palette enamels. This ovoid stoneware jar has a short neck with a thickened rim, broad shoulders and sides which taper in towards the base. It has an interior liner and a relief-moulded and openwork exterior painted with ‘fahua’-palette enamels. Set in a fantastical landscape with ‘ruyi’ clouds and pine trees, a procession of three officials on horseback is shown accompanied by a parasol bearer and by two further servants. On the other side are three soldiers led by a servant and with a porter carrying a backpack bringing up the rear. The lower section of the jar is cut away and ornamented with a wave border. Above the frieze are ‘ruyi’ heads and interlocking scroll work and a ring of bosses at the base of the neck. A distinctive raised design of leaf shapes arranged in trefoil patterns adorns the neck. The base is glazed turquoise inside the high foot ring.
IMG
![图片[1]-jar BM-1938-0524.116-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00249119_001.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Shanxi ‘fahua’ wares are readily distinguished by their soft low-fired beige stoneware bodies – contrasting with Jiangxi ‘fahua’ wares, which are made of hard high-fired white porcelain clay. ‘Fahua’ wares, during the Ming dynasty, were made at a variety of kiln sites in Shanxi province: at Pingyang (present-day Linfen) and Huozhou in southern Shanxi; Lu’an (present-day Changzhi) in south-eastern Shanxi; and Zezhou (present-day Jincheng). A salt substance, ‘yaxiao’, used in the Shanxi ‘fahua’ glaze, makes it susceptible to wear and decay. Consequently, this jar has had to be extensively restored and consolidated for publication. It has been suggested that the figures on the jar represent the Buddhist story of Shakyamuni Buddha as Prince Siddartha. However, images of processing scholars are quite a common theme in the Ming period. Many Ming stories and plays narrate tales of literate bureaucrats who were sent vast distances all over China to administer law and order and to organize the collection of taxes. Others tell of merchants who journeyed far and wide within China’s frontiers to amass a fortune through trading.An almost identical jar of the same size was excavated from a Ming tomb in the eastern suburbs at Luojiazhuang, Changzhi city, Shanxi province, and is now in the Changzhi City Museum.
Materials:stoneware
Technique:moulded, glazed, fahua,
Subjects:tree/bush landscape official servant/domestic worker equestrian
Dimensions:Diameter: 36 centimetres Height: 42.50 centimetres
Description:
Stoneware jar with decoration in openwork and relief with ‘fahua’-palette enamels. This ovoid stoneware jar has a short neck with a thickened rim, broad shoulders and sides which taper in towards the base. It has an interior liner and a relief-moulded and openwork exterior painted with ‘fahua’-palette enamels. Set in a fantastical landscape with ‘ruyi’ clouds and pine trees, a procession of three officials on horseback is shown accompanied by a parasol bearer and by two further servants. On the other side are three soldiers led by a servant and with a porter carrying a backpack bringing up the rear. The lower section of the jar is cut away and ornamented with a wave border. Above the frieze are ‘ruyi’ heads and interlocking scroll work and a ring of bosses at the base of the neck. A distinctive raised design of leaf shapes arranged in trefoil patterns adorns the neck. The base is glazed turquoise inside the high foot ring.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Shanxi ‘fahua’ wares are readily distinguished by their soft low-fired beige stoneware bodies – contrasting with Jiangxi ‘fahua’ wares, which are made of hard high-fired white porcelain clay. ‘Fahua’ wares, during the Ming dynasty, were made at a variety of kiln sites in Shanxi province: at Pingyang (present-day Linfen) and Huozhou in southern Shanxi; Lu’an (present-day Changzhi) in south-eastern Shanxi; and Zezhou (present-day Jincheng). A salt substance, ‘yaxiao’, used in the Shanxi ‘fahua’ glaze, makes it susceptible to wear and decay. Consequently, this jar has had to be extensively restored and consolidated for publication. It has been suggested that the figures on the jar represent the Buddhist story of Shakyamuni Buddha as Prince Siddartha. However, images of processing scholars are quite a common theme in the Ming period. Many Ming stories and plays narrate tales of literate bureaucrats who were sent vast distances all over China to administer law and order and to organize the collection of taxes. Others tell of merchants who journeyed far and wide within China’s frontiers to amass a fortune through trading.An almost identical jar of the same size was excavated from a Ming tomb in the eastern suburbs at Luojiazhuang, Changzhi city, Shanxi province, and is now in the Changzhi City Museum.
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