Many of the objects here were made in Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province, southern China, the so-called ‘porcelain capital’. Jingdezhen acquired its name in the Song dynasty during the reign of Emperor Jingde (1004–1007) who decreed that all fine porcelains made in this location for official use were to bear the official reign mark ‘Jingde’. The imperial kilns at Jingdezhen produced only high-quality porcelain, while the private kilns produced commercial pieces for the domestic and foreign markets. From the mid 1400s, Jingdezhen produced polychrome wares in addition to its well known blue-and-white porcelain. These include doucai (joined colours), wucai (five colours), and fencai – the pink colour introduced to China from Europe. Xu Zhen’s vase was made in Jingdezhen only last year, and it borrows its shape and motifs from vases created there in the Yongzheng period (1723–35) of the Qing dynasty.
But Xu Zhen also engages in an act of playful perversion, altering his vase so that it looks as though it has flopped or wilted during production. Bent out of shape, this vessel assumes a comical, almost creaturely aspect – as if leaning forward to listen or get a better look at us.