Ku Yüeh Hsüan

Abstract

AT SOME TIME not before the early part of the Ch'ien Lung period in China (1736–1795), a number of small vases and snuff bottles of opaque glass decorated with enamel colours were made. Some of these bore the mark: Ku Yüeh Hsüan chih, which can be translated: “Made in (or for) the Ancient Moon Pavilion” or “Made by Ku Yüeh-Hsüan.” The workmanship was excellent, and they were similar to other glass objects made for imperial use which bore the marks usual to porcelain of the period. The decoration was related also to a larger group of imperial porcelain which began towards the end of the K'ang Hsi period (1662–1722) and continued to some undetermined point in the reign of Ch'ien Lung. In spite of the fineness of their workmanship, the objects bearing the mark of Ku Yüeh Hsüan were not made for imperial use, and the Peking Palace collection contained no specimen with such a mark. The imperial glass and porcelain objects which they resembled were for palace use only, but owing to the similarity of decoration to the Ku Yüeh Hsüan group, such pieces have since become known as being “Ku Yüeh Hsüan” type of porcelain.