Chinese Porcelain Research Articles

Luxury in Global Perspective: Objects and Practices, 1600–2000 ed. by Bernd-Stefan Grewe and Karin Hofmeester

risk, and costly access to ports.6 If this is true, then it is quite likely that the great divergence owed to the failure of the poorest regions to overcome resource poverty. States, markets, and cultures are irrelevant variables, after all, these things cannot bring more water to the arid tropical Africa or Asia, not without serious costs. The question we should be asking is this: Did divergence owe to the distribution of geographical resources which made the poorest parts of the world fall behind, whereas the advanced regions in both East and West developed through trade, industrialization, and agricultural revolution? The test of this hypothesis should involve studying the poorer regions of the world, not the richer ones. No one in world economic history seems to be doing this yet. TIRTHANKAR ROY London School of Economics and Political Science Luxury in Global Perspective: Objects and Practices, 1600–2000. Edited by BERND-STEFAN GREWE and KARIN HOFMEESTER. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 338 pp. $120.00 (hardcover). Bridging the periods of early modern and modern history, the volume reconsiders the global dimensions of the history of luxury artefacts. In particular, it charts such objects’ contributions to the shaping of global connections, to be more precise, of global commodity chains. This approach criticises that traditional research usually relies on notions of commodity flows that are “only accurate from the standpoint of European and North American culture” (p. 7f). Therefore, the editors aim at writing “a decentered, global history of luxury” by taking the agency of non-European protagonists seriously (p. 23). In that regard, the volume has to be considered a path-breaking contribution to a variety of current historiographical debates that revolve around the production, appreciation, circulation, and consumption of high-end commodities. Luxury, here, is understood as both a specific historical phenomenon as well as a global analytical tool that shall help to readdress the world-spanning dynamics of history itself. It is the authors’ explicit goal to unite various branches of approaches established in cultural, economic, and social history. 6 For example, Jeffrey D. Sachs, “Institutions Don’t Rule: Direct Effects of Geography on Per Capita Income” (Washington, DC: NBER Working Paper No. 9490, 2003). 290 JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, JUNE 2019 Given this ambitious and stimulating approach, which is in itself indeed a ground-breaking contribution to current debates, one might assume that a reviewer’s job narrows down to praising the volume. However, writing this review is challenging as the volume is both thought-provoking and self-contradictory at the same time. Stimulating is, above all, the collection of impressively well-researched case studies that cover a wide range of contexts. Siebenhüner and Hofmeester discuss the circulation of jewels in Mughal India and beyond. Grewe charts the significance of gold in twentieth-century India by focusing on long-established traditions, marriage customs, and everyday economic exchange. Gerritsen discusses Chinese porcelain from Jizhou and Jingdezhen in relation to both Chinese court culture and European demands. Riello presents a fascinating chapter on cotton cloth in Mughal India and its embeddedness in Southeast Asian and European economics. Ruschak explores the gender values of wax prints in the society of south Ghana, whilst Pallaver charts the role of glass beads in Renaissance Venice and East Africa. Chaiklin’s chapter on the usage of tortoiseshell in early modern Japan offers fascinating insights into how this material’s properties engendered its significance for the staging of gender and social identities. Kranzer examines the nineteenth-century fascination for ivory, and Gissibl addresses the continuities and discontinuities of East African safari from the colonial period to wildlife tourism today. Thus, the volume assembles a wide range of intriguing and well-researched case studies that shed light on the volume’s topic from diverse angles. As fascinating as these case studies are, as problematic is the overarching conceptual frame of the volume. Drawing on approaches from economic history (mainly the commodity chain approach) and social and cultural history (mainly Appadurai and Kopytoff), the editors present a well-nuanced definition of luxury that centers on people’s practices in relation to artefacts of certain characteristics. Such luxury artefacts “are not mass goods; are exclusive, which...

Mechanisms of pattern and colour generation of Chinese Tianmu glaze.

Tianmu glaze wares are a very famous form of ancient Chinese porcelain. The samples were prepared with local raw materials and traditional technology. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy were used to analyse the phase composition, microstructure and chemical composition of the Tianmu glaze. The results show that the patterns were created by the process that includes phase separation, the iron-rich phase moving to the surface, the growth of nanosized magnetite and hematite crystals, the aggregation of a thin crystal layer, and the appearance and collapse of bubbles. Scattering, diffraction and interference of nanosized grains are the primary colour rendering mechanism.

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SERIOUS GAMES: PLAY AND PRAGMATISM IN VICTORIAN-ERA DINING

This study expands on Ortner's practice-based theory of “serious games” by interpreting artifacts through a continuum of intention: pragmatism and play. Decisions and actions are defined as pragmatic according to their desired outcome, while play, in contrast, is an attitude or disposition toward the action itself. Both pragmatism and play are examined in this study of dining-related material culture (ceramic tablewares) from a nineteenth-century Chinatown. The research reveals that Chinatown residents varied considerably in their approach to dining, some using the full complement of British- and American-produced earthenwares associated with Victorian-era genteel dining, whereas others primarily used porcelain vessels congruent with dining conventions in southern China. Other households blended the two types of ceramics, typically using Chinese porcelain vessels for individual table settings and British- and American-produced earthenwares for serving vessels. Chinese porcelains were typically purchased in matched sets; in contrast, British and American earthenwares were acquired piece by piece, contributing aesthetic variety to Chinatown table settings. Together, these findings indicate that most Chinatown households were establishing their own “house rules” that redefined dining through new practices. The continuum of intention represented by pragmatism and play affords an integrated methodology for bridging functional/economic and cultural/symbolic interpretive frameworks in archaeology.

“The finest of Earth”: The English East India Company’s enamelled porcelain trade at Canton during the eighteenth century

The innovation of enamels and enamel painting techniques on porcelain during the 1720s marked the establishment of a new type of porcelain product, which soon played a significant role in Chinese porcelain trade at Canton. Yet, the impact of this innovation on export trade has rarely been studied due to the lack of resource. By looking closely to the English East India Company Records, this paper demonstrates that enameled porcelain trade was dynamic and experienced different stages over the eighteenth century. We consider porcelain as a dynamic trade, which was shaped by consumers, artisans, craftsmen and commercial networks. Thanks to detailed records, we show that from the 1720s to the 1750s, enameled porcelain was traded as a new product and created a niche market for private business. After the late 1750s, enameled porcelain trade enjoyed a boost mainly due to the establishment of a manufacture in Canton.

A rudimentary review of the excavated Tang-style metal belts of the Balhae tomb and its implications

당 왕조에 널리 사용된 당식 대장식구는 관인을 상징하는 허리띠로서 당 왕조는 물론이고, 발해와 신라, 일본에서도 널리 사용되어 동아시아 문화권의 구성요소 중 하나인 율령을 나타내는 고고 자료로 그 중요성이 높다. 이를 염두에 두고 그동안 연구가 활발히 이루어지지 못한 발해에서의 당식 대장식구 출토 양상을 살피고, 그 의미에 대한 기초적 검토를 시도한다. 발해 내에서 출토되는 당식 대장식구는 중국 당 왕조에서의 변화과정과 동일한 변화양상을 보여주고 있다. 또한 대장식구를 착용할 때 배열되는 방형과판과 반원형 과판의 위치 역시 당 왕조, 신라와 같이 강한 규칙성과 정형성을 보여준다. 아울러 홍준어장 고분군에서 당식 대장식구와 공반된 발해토기의 상대서열, 북대 고분군에서 출토된 중국 자기, 동경과의 교차연대를 통해 실연대 도출이 가능하였다. 이에 발해에서 사용된 당식 대장식구는 중국에서의 변천과정과 그 궤를 함께 하며, 시간의 흐름에 따른 형태의 변화 역시 동일하다. 발해 내부에서 당식 대장식구는 발해의 중심지였던 5경 인근의 고분군뿐만 아니라 발해의 주요 지역에 고루 분포하고 있어 관인의 존재를 유추할 수 있다. 한편 발해 영역서 출토되는 이른바 ‘말갈패식’이 공존한다. 발해의 주민구성에 말갈족이 포함되는 점에 미루어 말갈패식은 말갈인들의 정체성을 나타내는 상징표상이자 발해 지방사회에 존재했던 수령의 존재가능성을 나타내는 것으로 판단된다. 이와 같은 당식 대장식구와 말갈패식의 공존은 당 왕조 및 신라와 차별성을 보임과 동시에 발해 문화의 다원성을 엿볼 수 있는 자료라는 점에서 주목된다.As they were used frequently during the as well as in the Parhae and Silla kingdoms and across Japan, Tang-style metal belt ornaments are important archaeological artifacts and symbolic of the East Asian cultural sphere. This article discusses the littleresearched topic of Tang-style metal belt ornaments unearthed from the Balhae kingdom and provides an initial analysis of their historical significance. The belt ornaments of this style that have been excavated from Balhae domains to date exhibit the same patterns of change as those known from the Tang dynasty. The rectangular and semicircular belt brooches of these ornaments were aligned in the same regular sequence as those known from both the Tang dynasty and the Silla kingdom. Thus, these Balhae ornaments can be dated by comparing them to the hierarchy of pottery from this region excavated from the tomb site as well as with Chinese porcelain and bronze mirrors excavated from the Bukdae tomb site. This analysis shows that ornaments of this type used in Balhae underwent the same temporal stylistic changes as their counterparts in China. The Tang-style metal belt ornaments that have been collected from within the Balhae kingdom evidence the presence of state officials as they have been excavated from tomb sites near to the Five Capitals as well as uniformly across the major regions of the country. In addition to these artifacts, so-called Malgal belt ornaments have also been excavated from the territory of the Parhae. Judging from the fact that the Malgals comprised part of the Parhae demographic make-up, ornaments of the former style were likely identity symbols and raise the possibility that Malgal chiefs were also present within provinces controlled by the Balhae. The coexistence of Tang- and Malgalstyle metal belt ornaments therefore reflects the heterogeneity of Balhae culture and demonstrates its distinctiveness compared to the Tang dynasty and Silla kingdom.

In situ investigation of Chinese export watercolours in the nineteenth century: pigments and dyes

In the early seventeenth century the Dutch East India Company (VOC) began providing the European market with Chinese porcelain. The shapes of these objects were inspired by European bowls, cups and...

ЦІНСЬКИЙ ФАРФОР ІЗ РОЗПИСОМ «BLUE-ANDWHITE » З КОЛЕКЦІЇ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОГО МУЗЕЮ МИСТЕЦТВ ІМЕНІ БОГДАНА І ВАРВАРИ ХАНЕНКІВ

The study was aimed at considering porcelain blu-end-white created in the Qing era from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts. The main result of the work is the attempt to characterize the valuable works of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, created in the Qing era, according to the typology of objects, their functioning and decor. The study consists of several points. First was briefly described the history of importation Chinese porcelain to Europe. The next is devoted to the story of the emergence and development of blue-and-white porcelain. The main content is devoted to analysis and description of blu-endwhite porcelain pieces from the collection of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts.

Chinese Porcelain in Habsburg Spain

Chinese Porcelain in Habsburg Spain

A Wedding Gift and Transculturation: Chinese Porcelain in Norway and the Danish Asian Company in China in the Eighteenth Century

Norwegian museums have large collections of chinaware, dating from the eighteenth century; most of it imported after the foundation the Danish Asian Company in 1732. I have selected a tea and coffee service in the collections of Norsk Folkemuseum: Norwegian Museum of Cultural History as a passageway to trace the entanglement of Norwegian consumers in cultural interactions with China. The service is part of a broader history of transculturation. This is a history of encounters and exchanges involving the cultural translation of Chinese designs in Europe, and Western designs in China. Into the transculturation is entangled the enthusiasm with Chinese porcelain in Europe, and the negotiations by which Chinese potters and painters translated European demands for particular shapes, decorative motifs and fashionable designs into porcelain products for export. Through the engagement of the Danish Asian Company in China, I will discuss the impact of these processes in Norway, and their influence on the tastes and preferences of Norwegian consumers.

Non-invasive on-site Raman study of blue-decorated early soft-paste porcelain: The use of arsenic-rich (European) cobalt ores – Comparison with huafalang Chinese porcelains

Both European and Asian historical records report that Jesuits were at the origin of enamelling technology transfers from France (and Italy) to Asia at the 17th–18th century turn. A mobile Raman set-up equipped with a high magnification (×200) microscope objective with long working distance is used to identify the use of European (arsenic-rich) cobalt in 17th and 18th century porcelains: twenty soft-paste porcelains from Rouen (L. Poterat’ Factory), Saint-Cloud, Paris (Pavie’, Hébert’, Chicanneau’, and Bellevaux’ factories), Lille, Mennecy, and Vincennes factories, of which almost all were produced before 1750, belonging to the Cité de la Céramique Collection (formerly Musée national de Céramique, Sèvres), have been analysed in order to get a more representative view of the type of cobalt ore used. A large proportion of blue decors exhibit signs of lead arsenate, even for productions after ~ 1750, which proves the wilful interest given to arsenic phases in magnifying blue hues. Different lead arsenate signatures are observed, one assigned to the product of reaction of As-rich cobalt ore with lead-based glaze and another characteristic of added arsenic. At least two groups of glaze are identified: a lead-rich one and a mixed lead-alkali glaze. Porcelains made during the second half of the 18th century exhibit the very strong As-O modes characteristic of the voluntary addition of a lead-arsenate forming compound. Comparisons are made with Qing Chinese productions exhibiting similar Raman signatures and expected to have benefited from transfers of technologies.

Japan Century Ceramic Family in Inheritance Innovation—Kakiemon

China and Japan have two thousand years of cultural exchange history. In contrast to the development of culture in all aspects of China and Japan, you can find a lot of similarities. Especially in China's porcelain technology spread to Japan, the Japanese porcelain industry took place a great revolution. They imitate the Chinese porcelain at the same time gradually out of the Chinese style, began to develop into their own characteristics of the porcelain culture. Which is even more influential even if there is a porcelain. In Japan, there are areas of the production of painted porcelain mainly Guy Wanli, Kakiemon, the island of these three styles. Which painted the door of the orange door painted porcelain can be said that the creation of Japanese painting technology. In 2016 Japan ushered in the 400th anniversary of kakiemon ceramics. Japan's kakiemon-style painted porcelain on the development of Jingdezhen ceramics has important implications.

A perceção dos jesuítas no mundo português: entre o trato de e o gosto por orientalia (sécs. XVI-XVII)

The Jesuits became reputed commissioners of orientalia , during the 16th and the 17th centuries. Their commission of orientalia included exotica , rarita , and naturalia . Due to the fact that they were members of a religious order, a considerable part of orientalia had a religious character. At least, at the beginning, those objects were destined mainly to the liturgy in the missions. Nevertheless, the Jesuits quickly developed an exquisite collectionism taste of those objects and as traders. Among the orientalia that arose the greater interest among the Jesuits, reference shall be made to Japanese silk and silver transported by the Nau do Trato, Indian rarita , such as jewellery and ivory sculpture, and also naturalia and exotica , such as pearls and bezoar stones. The Jesuits moreover joined immediately the interest for Chinese porcelain and lacquerware. The Jesuits were fundamental agents from a technical viewpoint. They are credited with the creation of the Goa stones and the introduction of the Cassius purple . Jesuit authors further wrote important technical treatises. The trade and collectionism of orientalia by the Jesuits were often excessive. However, the repetition of the interdictions by both the General Claudio Acquaviva and the General Everardo Mercuriano clearly illustrates the incapacity of the authorities to put an end to inappropriate practices to religious men of owning luxurious objects and fomenting the taste for luxury, through the offer of orientalia .

Terra Incognita: Results of Polish excavations in Albania and Montenegro

One of the most important issues in Illyrian archeology today concerns the origins of Illyrian cities. The excavations at Rhizon have provided new data on the subject where many elements of the ancient urban architecture have been recorded. First, the monumental defense walls so called – Cyclopean wall. The lower town was divided into districts, but it was not an orthogonal plan. The architecture of the houses in generally Hellenistic in nature, but always a variation on the standard model in use each of the six insulae. Despite the limited size of the excavation compared to the overall size of the town, three separate bathrooms with terracotta baths have been unearthed, including a bathtub for children. In considering the urban structure of Rhizon the archaeologists had to come to grips with the question of the ruling authority and its architectural emanation. In terms of the functioning of royal authority in Illyria, the discovery of a palatial complex in Rhizon has added immensely to our knowledge. The older complex, included a megaron-type hall with a central hearth, storerooms and large courtyard The area was rebuilt after the event. The rubble was leveled, the storerooms reconstructed. The old megaron was turned into a kitchen and/or banquet hall attached to the new palace, which was built in part in the old courtyard. Part of the courtyard now served as a roadleading along the new palace facade. The younger palace was raised of neatly dressed ashlar blocks of limestone joined by the Greek technique of anathyrosis.
 Excavation in the other capital of Illyria, Scoder, open the way to interesting considerations in reference to the above. One of the most interesting discoveries was made during an investigation of a cistern constructed in Venetian times and rebuilt by the Turks. Two inscriptions, one whole and the other fragmentary, were immured into the central pillar supporting the roof of the cistern. Three inscriptions were preserved on one of these two blocks. On the one ofthe Latin text, Scoder is mentioned as a Roman colony. In late Roman times Scoder was the capital of the Praevalis province. The wall, excavated by us, surrounding the lower town dates to this period. One of the mysteries of Scoder was a bulwark below the north wall of the fortifications The present investigations have identified the wall as a defensive structure raised by the Venetians during the Turkish siege of 1478/1479. Three other interesting discoveries concern the 17th and 18th centuries. A set of almost 30 glass aryballoi were found in the ruins of one of the Turkish houses. Another hoard, found this time in a water sewer which is always interesting to the archaeologist, contained a small bag of silver coins struck in Dubrovnik in the early 17th century as well as a series of majolica vessels covered with a colored glaze and even some imported Chinese porcelain. An apothecary's shop in the lower town yielded the remains of scales, vessels and a well preserved small tin pyxis The inscription on its cover identifies its content as „thyriaca”, an antidote known to English apothecaries as Venice treacle.

Between East and West

Abstract Taking cue from Dmitry Sarabyanov’s seminal publications on the Stil Modern and turn-of-the-century Russian visual culture, the present article resituates Mikhail Vrubel’s œuvre “between East and West” by demonstrating that the artist moved beyond the narrowly circumscribed nationalist agenda typically attributed to the work he produced at the Abramtsevo and Talashkino artistic colonies. In addition to indigenous sources, Vrubel also assimilated a number of external artistic influences such as Jugendstil, medieval Gothic and Renaissance ceramics, Japanese and Chinese porcelain, and Egyptian and Assyrian art. Through a close analysis of Vrubel’s orientalist paintings, as well as his cycle of folkloric works such as Mikula Selyaninovich and the Volga (1896), I demonstrate that his aesthetic program crossed multiple boundaries: geographical, temporal, material, and institutional. Through a complex renegotiation of the global and the local, the past and the present, and the traditional and contemporary, Vrubel arrived at a strikingly modernist visual syntax, which paved the way for an entire generation of avant-garde artists such as Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Kazimir Malevich, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Liubov Popova, Vladimir Tatlin, and Naum Gabo, among others. Using Vrubel as a case study, this article thus proposes to rethink the opposing binary categories of avant-gardism and revivalism, historicism and innovation, Orientalism and Occidentalism, regionalism and cosmopolitanism, as they have been applied to the trajectory of modern Russian art—a set of ostensibly fixed dichotomies that Dmitry Sarabyanov had repeatedly and successfully challenged in his own work.

Chemical composition and provenance of Chinese porcelain shards recovered from Old Goa, west coast of India

During recent archaeological explorations at Old Goa, west coast of India, twenty three Chinese porcelain shards of the Ming (Middle to late 16th century), Qing (17th century) and late Qing period (late 17th century) have been recovered. In order to understand the nature and source of raw material and kilns, these shards were analysed for major elements with X-ray fluorescence (XRF), trace and rare earth elements by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). The analysis suggests that porcelain shards are siliceous in nature (SiO2~70%) and contain high Al2O3 (21.6%), Rb (388ppm) and Ba (160ppm) but have low Sr (48ppm). This composition suggests that the raw materials used for producing porcelain were silica, kaolinite and sericite which are characteristics of porcelains manufactured in Southern China. Comparatively, high Al2O3 (kaolinite) content in porcelains of the Qing Dynasty suggest improvement of quality, particularly mechanical strength, of Jingdezhen porcelain. In general, major element composition, trace metals, total rare earth elements (∑REE-67ppm) and their chondrite - normalized pattern of the Ming, Qing and late Qing period are nearly similar and appear to be made of identical raw materials.

네덜란드공화국 유입 중국도자가 델프트 도기에 미친 영향

네덜란드공화국 유입 중국도자가 델프트 도기에 미친 영향

Arrival to Joseon Dynasty of Chinese Porcelain Master between Late 19th Century to Early 20th Century

Arrival to Joseon Dynasty of Chinese Porcelain Master between Late 19th Century to Early 20th Century

A Chinese Porcelain Jar Associated with Marco Polo: A Discussion from an Archaeological Perspective

As the first European to claim that he travelled to China and back, Marco Polo is a celebrated traveller who described the multicultural society of Eurasia in the thirteenth to fourteenth centuriesad. However, his famed account, theTravels of Marco Polo, contains many unsolved mysteries which have generated discussion among historians, while an archaeological approach has been even less convincing because the material that may link to Marco Polo is very rare. A recent re-analysis of Chinese ceramics from a wide geographical area ranging from southern China to the Indian Ocean provides some archaeological support: it suggests that a Chinese porcelain jar housed in the Treasury of San Marco in Venice dates to the era of Marco Polo and is associated with his journey to China.

Maritime Silk Road and Cultural Exchange and Dissemination of Chinese and Western Artifacts: From the Perspective of Porcelain Trade

Porcelain is the core competitiveness between China and Western trade and representatives of Chinese artifacts. In 16th century the world’s marine trade from the Portuguese made porcelain become an important link between the East and West culture, in the five hundred years of the sea Silk Road exchange process, porcelain trade promotes the spread of Chinese culture to the world, to build a porcelain culture circle which affects the world. But with the success of European imitation of Chinese porcelain and the development of the industrial revolution, Chinese porcelain which once led the world’s advanced cultural trend faded out of the world trade stage. China, once the porcelain export country, began to import porcelain from Europe and America. Porcelain, which is the representative of Chinese culture, began to be both a reflection of Chinese culture and economy in the context of globalization. It is also an epitome of the awkward position of Chinese artifacts in the process of modernization. Under the Pre-modernization and modernization contexts, porcelain trade embodied the national identity and cultural identity.

Mounted Coconuts, Bezoars, Slaves, and Chinese Porcelain: The Material Culture of the Donors of the Misericórdia of Porto (1500–1640)

Mounted Coconuts, Bezoars, Slaves, and Chinese Porcelain: The Material Culture of the Donors of the Misericórdia of Porto (1500–1640)