Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1540-1600 (circa)
Materials:porcelain, gold,
Technique:glazed, gilded, painted,
Subjects:kirin scholar
Dimensions:Height: 27 centimetres Width: 5 inches
Description:
Porcelain desk stand in the form of a screen with relief, polychrome enamel and gilded decoration. This stand is modelled as a free-standing screen, comprising a plaque attached at right angles to the rectangular base, supported on either side by decorative mounts. Attached to its back is an open deep rectangular box for storing ink sticks or brushes. This box is painted with an eight-lobed red cartouche in a green frame on a red diaper ground, and a ‘qilin’ in a garden is painted above the box on the back of the screen. On the other side of the screen is the figure of a scholar standing on a mythical creature’s head applied in relief. This pair emerge from the waves among leaping carp and lotus. The scholar wears a black gauze cap, round-necked robe, secured at the waist with a sash, and black boots; he holds a branch of coral. Behind him to the right another scholar and his servant, holding a fan, look on; to the left a house interior is shown. This stand has been repaired.
IMG
![图片[1]-stand(desk stand) BM-Franks.1482-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00168284_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-stand(desk stand) BM-Franks.1482-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00168298_001.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:An item for the scholar-administrator’s table, the stand is festooned with images of a successful bureaucrat. Metaphors for examination success, and thus a scholar transforming himself to reach high office, include a carp leaping the Dragon Gate and being transformed from a fish into a dragon, picking cassia blossom from the moon and riding a giant turtle. The lotus is a symbol of the noble scholar too as it grows in murky waters but always produces unsullied flowers. Such imagery is found in contemporary Ming stories and plays. For example, Miao Shunbin is attendant to the imperial commissioner and official in charge of conducting civil service examinations in the romantic play the Peony Pavilion, written in 1598. He speaks to the hero, Liu Mengmei, after the latter has submitted his exam papers. Indicating Liu’s pending success, he lowers his voice and says: ‘I am aware of that: skilled angler, you have hooked the magic coral and proved your right to ride the great turtle’s head!’The use of gilding in conjunction with a palette of red, green, turquoise, yellow and black enamels is typical of the second half of the sixteenth century.
Materials:porcelain, gold,
Technique:glazed, gilded, painted,
Subjects:kirin scholar
Dimensions:Height: 27 centimetres Width: 5 inches
Description:
Porcelain desk stand in the form of a screen with relief, polychrome enamel and gilded decoration. This stand is modelled as a free-standing screen, comprising a plaque attached at right angles to the rectangular base, supported on either side by decorative mounts. Attached to its back is an open deep rectangular box for storing ink sticks or brushes. This box is painted with an eight-lobed red cartouche in a green frame on a red diaper ground, and a ‘qilin’ in a garden is painted above the box on the back of the screen. On the other side of the screen is the figure of a scholar standing on a mythical creature’s head applied in relief. This pair emerge from the waves among leaping carp and lotus. The scholar wears a black gauze cap, round-necked robe, secured at the waist with a sash, and black boots; he holds a branch of coral. Behind him to the right another scholar and his servant, holding a fan, look on; to the left a house interior is shown. This stand has been repaired.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:An item for the scholar-administrator’s table, the stand is festooned with images of a successful bureaucrat. Metaphors for examination success, and thus a scholar transforming himself to reach high office, include a carp leaping the Dragon Gate and being transformed from a fish into a dragon, picking cassia blossom from the moon and riding a giant turtle. The lotus is a symbol of the noble scholar too as it grows in murky waters but always produces unsullied flowers. Such imagery is found in contemporary Ming stories and plays. For example, Miao Shunbin is attendant to the imperial commissioner and official in charge of conducting civil service examinations in the romantic play the Peony Pavilion, written in 1598. He speaks to the hero, Liu Mengmei, after the latter has submitted his exam papers. Indicating Liu’s pending success, he lowers his voice and says: ‘I am aware of that: skilled angler, you have hooked the magic coral and proved your right to ride the great turtle’s head!’The use of gilding in conjunction with a palette of red, green, turquoise, yellow and black enamels is typical of the second half of the sixteenth century.
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