Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1403-1424
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, anhua, incised,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Diameter: 15.50 centimetres Height: 16 centimetres
Description:
Porcelain stem cup with incised and anhua decoration beneath a monochrome tianbai glaze. This delicately potted tuotai (bodiless) stem cup has an elegantly formed bowl with funnel-shaped sides and a gently everted lip. It stands on a broad hollow stem which spreads towards the foot. Inside the wall of the cup are four incised seal-script characters which read ‘Yongle nian zhi’ (Made in the Yongle reign) and also in anhua (secret or hidden decoration), visible when held up to the light, is a dragon chasing through ruyi clouds. The positioning of the reign mark in the wall is quite unusual. Inside and out the stem cup is coated with a transparent tianbai (sweet-white) glaze through which the purity of the white porcelain body beneath can be seen. On the base this has a faint yellowish tinge.
IMG
![图片[1]-stem cup BM-1947-0712.276-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00255240_001.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:The present item may be dated by comparison to a similar reign-marked stem cup excavated in 1982 from the Yongle stratum of the imperial kiln site at Zhushan, Jingdezhen. In fact, seventy-one broken stem cups with seal-script marks in the base and tianbai glaze were recovered from the east section of Zhushan Middle Road that year. Investigations by Chinese archaeologists have shown that these were made before the tenth year of Yongle in 1412. Sweet-white wares are unique to the Yongle period. They have a lustrous glaze, achieved by adding a far higher proportion of kaolin to the clay, by reducing limestone in the glaze and by firing at a higher temperature than that used for earlier white wares. Such fine-quality porcelain and pure white glaze simply was not achieved before the Yongle era and later could not be recreated. Imperial marks were permitted to be applied only at the imperial porcelain factory in Jingdezhen.Undoubtedly this stem cup was made as part of a large set for imperial ceremonial use, probably for a Buddhist ritual. White is the traditional colour of mourning in China and we know that, in order to foster the idea that Yongle was the legitimate heir of Hongwu, Yongleheld mourning ceremonies for the deceased Hongwu emperor at which this stem cup may have been used.Other stem cups of this type may be found in several public collections, for example at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, anhua, incised,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Diameter: 15.50 centimetres Height: 16 centimetres
Description:
Porcelain stem cup with incised and anhua decoration beneath a monochrome tianbai glaze. This delicately potted tuotai (bodiless) stem cup has an elegantly formed bowl with funnel-shaped sides and a gently everted lip. It stands on a broad hollow stem which spreads towards the foot. Inside the wall of the cup are four incised seal-script characters which read ‘Yongle nian zhi’ (Made in the Yongle reign) and also in anhua (secret or hidden decoration), visible when held up to the light, is a dragon chasing through ruyi clouds. The positioning of the reign mark in the wall is quite unusual. Inside and out the stem cup is coated with a transparent tianbai (sweet-white) glaze through which the purity of the white porcelain body beneath can be seen. On the base this has a faint yellowish tinge.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:The present item may be dated by comparison to a similar reign-marked stem cup excavated in 1982 from the Yongle stratum of the imperial kiln site at Zhushan, Jingdezhen. In fact, seventy-one broken stem cups with seal-script marks in the base and tianbai glaze were recovered from the east section of Zhushan Middle Road that year. Investigations by Chinese archaeologists have shown that these were made before the tenth year of Yongle in 1412. Sweet-white wares are unique to the Yongle period. They have a lustrous glaze, achieved by adding a far higher proportion of kaolin to the clay, by reducing limestone in the glaze and by firing at a higher temperature than that used for earlier white wares. Such fine-quality porcelain and pure white glaze simply was not achieved before the Yongle era and later could not be recreated. Imperial marks were permitted to be applied only at the imperial porcelain factory in Jingdezhen.Undoubtedly this stem cup was made as part of a large set for imperial ceremonial use, probably for a Buddhist ritual. White is the traditional colour of mourning in China and we know that, in order to foster the idea that Yongle was the legitimate heir of Hongwu, Yongleheld mourning ceremonies for the deceased Hongwu emperor at which this stem cup may have been used.Other stem cups of this type may be found in several public collections, for example at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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