| OBJECT UNDER SPOTLIGHT | |
| December, 2000. | |
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Each month we feature a Chinese Work of Art that exhibits singularly outstanding historical and aesthetic characteristics and qualities.
This month we have selected FAHUA VASE, MEIPING Ming Dynasty, circa 1500 Height: 11 7/8 inches (30.2 cm.) Width: 5 7/8 inches (15 cm.) |
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The tall vase with high rounded shoulders has a small contracted neck that
flares to a straight mouth. Peony sprays are interspersed with rockwork on
the body, panels of ruyi decorate near the base, and strings of pearls fall
over the shoulders. The design is incised and painted in yellow, amber, and
turquoise enamels within raised line borders in white. All is set against a
deep, dark blue ground.
This type of vase was designed to hold a single branch of prunus blossom and it is therefore also known as a "prunus vase." Vases of meiping type have been known since the Song dynasty. The decoration bears the obvious influence of the cloisonne style. Fahua is low-fired, polychrome ware with a vitreous, or glass-like, glaze which results in a colors that are mainly purple and blue. Fahua, like cloisonne enameling, is generally outlined in thin threads of trailed slip. The colored glazes are painted onto the fired body within the slip outlines. The body of these wares are considered "biscuit," which means it was fired at high temperatures before the application of the glazes, and then refired at a lower temperature after the glazes have been applied. A similar meiping, larger, with different decoration on the shoulders and with lotus flowers and leaves on the body is illustrated in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics by Suzanne G. Valenstein, plate 87. Another fahua vase with lotus flowers and leaves and similar pendant jewels is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics by Cecile and Michael Beurdeley, plate 54. Also, compare with a similar vase with lotus flowers and pendant beads which is illustrated in The Wares of the Ming Dynasty by R. L. Hobson, plate 1. PROVENANCE: Bluett & Sons, London Jerome Krieger Collection, New York If you would like more information on FAHUA VASE, MEIPING, inventory # 0958, please click here. |
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