Jingdezhen ware
(China)
- Title
- Pentafoil basin
- Place of origin
-
Jingdezhen →
Jiangxi Province →
China
- Period
- Wanli 1573 - 1619 → Ming dynasty 1368 - 1644 → China
- Year
- 16th century
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- porcelain with 'wucai' enamel decoration
- Dimensions
-
6.8 x 27.5cm
- Credit
- Gift from the J.H. Myrtle Collection 1999
- Accession number
- 117.1999
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
The basin is moulded in a flanged, five-lobed form, the unglazed base is recessed to form a shallow foot and there is a further shallow, circular glazed recess in the centre bearing a six-character mark.
The decoration, within and without, is in a vibrant purplish underglaze blue and red, green, brown and black overglazed colours in the wucai or five colours style. In the centre is a cluster of exotic flowers issuing from a large taihu rock. Each of the five shaped panels of the cavetto is also decorated with flowering and fruiting branches. Around the flattened rim is a continuous scroll. On the exterior is a peony scroll.
Wucai decoration, a combination of underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome enamels, was an important innovation of the Jiajing period (1522-1566), and was one of the last major additions to the lexicon of ornamental techniques that were developed during the Ming dynasty. The wucai porcelains produced during the Wanli period are outstanding. The wucai pentafoil basins in the size of present one are particularly rare.
Asian Art Dept, AGNSW, June 1999.
- Bibliography (3)
-
J. Hepburn Myrtle (Australia, b.1911, d.1998) (Author), Chinese porcelain of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, Sydney, 1977, 23. cat.no. 28
'Asian ambitions' by Edmund Capon, pg. 12-13., Look Oct 2000, Oct 2000, 12 (colour illus.). Article about new building plans and the new Asian Gallery to be completed by 2003.
'The Marvel of Porcelain', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 120 (colour illus.).
- Exhibition history (1)
-
Chinese porcelain of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 18 Feb 1977–26 Jun 1977.
