COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1964.166
amicoid
CMA_.1964.166
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
1998
aly
1998
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
oty
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Object Type
false
Creator Nationality:
Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
crc
Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Dates/Places:
China
cdt
China
Creator Dates/Places
false
Creator Name-CRT:
China, Jiangxi Province, Jingdezhen Kilns, Ming Dynasty, Xuande Period
crt
China, Jiangxi Province, Jingdezhen Kilns, Ming Dynasty, Xuande Period
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
Brush Washer
otn
Brush Washer
Title
false
Title Type:
Primary
ott
Primary
Title Type
false
View:
Full View
rid
Full View
View
false
Creation Date:
1426-1435
oct
1426-1435
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
1426
ocs
1426
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
1435
oce
1435
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
omd
porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Materials and Techniques
false
Classification Term:
Ceramic
clt
Ceramic
Classification Term
false
Classification Term:
Ceramic
clt
Ceramic
Classification Term
false
Dimensions:
Diameter: 18cm
met
Diameter: 18cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
oon
The Cleveland Museum of Art
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
oop
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1964.166
ooa
1964.166
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
Severance and Greta Millikin Collection
ooc
Severance and Greta Millikin Collection
Credit Line
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html"target="_new">http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html</a>
Rights
false
Context:
Southern Chinese potters began to decorate their porcelains with underglaze blue painted designs during the late Yuan dynasty. Adapted from existing methods of ornamenting Persian ceramics, the technically superior Chinese products were readily marketable in the Near East. In fact, foreign demand encouraged increased production in China and directly affected manufacturing techniques, chiefly the expanded use of molds and templates for shaping. Compared with earlier southern porcelains (see page 69), these new wares were heavy and covered with more thickly applied glazes. Be that as it may, these sturdy white vessels embellished with rich cobalt designs were the finest ceramics the world had ever seen. Although selected shapes were manufactured for the domestic market as early as the mid-fourteenth century, the popularity of the new ware did not flourish in China until the early Ming. At that time, a wider array of traditional forms decorated with appealing indigenous motifs--beautifully exemplified by this blue-and-white brush washer with imperial dragons--were made for the royal household as well as the indigenous commercial market. Such Chinese desk items had been created in clay for centuries (see page 55), and earlier examples of foliated brush washers exist among surviving Song imperial wares. Filled with water, they were used to clean ink out of writing and painting brushes. Such beautiful pieces reflect not only the cultivation of their owners, but also the importance of everything connected withthe art of writing. While Chinese emperors, scholars, and officials may have always prized their special brush or ink grindstone, interest in all the accouterments of the desk rose in tandem with the social and economic fortunes of the educated class. Thedragon, seen here both inside the basin and in the recessed foot as well as in ten roundels around the exterior, was a favored motif from its first appearance on archaic bronzes through its selection as the paramount imperial symbol. For its depiction here, the painter varied the intensity of his color by altering the cobalt content of the pigment he applied directly to the ceramic body, thereby enhancing the three-dimensional effect and spiny character of his design. Whether made strictly for the imperial household or not, the presence of the dragon on pieces such as this one signals increasing palace involvement in production at the Jingdezhen factories. In fact, as early as 1433--at about the same time this brush washer was created--the palace was ordering more than 400,000 porcelains decorated with underglaze blue dragons and phoenixes. Although it does not bear an imperial reign mark, the attractive tonal range found in the painted decoration, resulting from the irregular size of cobalt bits in thepigment, and the pocked glaze surface are characteristic of the stunning objects made at the royal Jingdezhen kilns--still in the first century of their operation--during the reign of the early Ming emperor Xuande (1426-35). K.W.
cxd
Southern Chinese potters began to decorate their porcelains with underglaze blue painted designs during the late Yuan dynasty. Adapted from existing methods of ornamenting Persian ceramics, the technically superior Chinese products were readily marketable in the Near East. In fact, foreign demand encouraged increased production in China and directly affected manufacturing techniques, chiefly the expanded use of molds and templates for shaping. Compared with earlier southern porcelains (see page 69), these new wares were heavy and covered with more thickly applied glazes. Be that as it may, these sturdy white vessels embellished with rich cobalt designs were the finest ceramics the world had ever seen. Although selected shapes were manufactured for the domestic market as early as the mid-fourteenth century, the popularity of the new ware did not flourish in China until the early Ming. At that time, a wider array of traditional forms decorated with appealing indigenous motifs--beautifully exemplified by this blue-and-white brush washer with imperial dragons--were made for the royal household as well as the indigenous commercial market. Such Chinese desk items had been created in clay for centuries (see page 55), and earlier examples of foliated brush washers exist among surviving Song imperial wares. Filled with water, they were used to clean ink out of writing and painting brushes. Such beautiful pieces reflect not only the cultivation of their owners, but also the importance of everything connected withthe art of writing. While Chinese emperors, scholars, and officials may have always prized their special brush or ink grindstone, interest in all the accouterments of the desk rose in tandem with the social and economic fortunes of the educated class. Thedragon, seen here both inside the basin and in the recessed foot as well as in ten roundels around the exterior, was a favored motif from its first appearance on archaic bronzes through its selection as the paramount imperial symbol. For its depiction here, the painter varied the intensity of his color by altering the cobalt content of the pigment he applied directly to the ceramic body, thereby enhancing the three-dimensional effect and spiny character of his design. Whether made strictly for the imperial household or not, the presence of the dragon on pieces such as this one signals increasing palace involvement in production at the Jingdezhen factories. In fact, as early as 1433--at about the same time this brush washer was created--the palace was ordering more than 400,000 porcelains decorated with underglaze blue dragons and phoenixes. Although it does not bear an imperial reign mark, the attractive tonal range found in the painted decoration, resulting from the irregular size of cobalt bits in thepigment, and the pocked glaze surface are characteristic of the stunning objects made at the royal Jingdezhen kilns--still in the first century of their operation--during the reign of the early Ming emperor Xuande (1426-35). K.W.
Context
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1964.166.tif
ril
CMA_.1964.166.tif
Related Image Identifier Link
false