Ming and Qing Dynasty ‘Hundred Antiques(bógǔ)’ Export Ceramics for the European Market in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the aspects of a particular design that appears on Chinese export porcelain produced for the European market in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The bogu design portrays bronze vessels or other ancient objects as the central component supplemented by auspicious subjects such as scholar's accoutrements(文房淸玩) and the eight treasures(八寶). The specific elements included in the design and the overall composition changed throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These changes can be categorized into three distinct types and periods. Chinese bogu ceramics exported to Europe also had an effect on the ceramic production of its destination. The European reproduction of bogu ceramics took form in two ways. The first is a faithful imitation that strived to emulate the exact shape, design, and style of the Chinese ceramics. The second is a departure from the original as it incorporated elements of European taste. Most notably, the combination of 'bogu' elements with aspects of Chinoiserie and European still-life paintings, as seen during the transformation stage of Chinese bogu ceramics, was a significant development that emerged as a new trend in European ceramics.