Jingdezhen ware
(China)
- Title
- Moonflask with design of dragon, clouds and waves
- Other titles:
- Moonflask with a design on each side of a dragon and a flaming pearl
- Place of origin
-
Jingdezhen →
Jiangxi Province →
China
- Period
- Qianlong 1736 - 1795 → Qing dynasty 1644 - 1911 → China
- Year
- 1736-1795
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- porcelain with underglaze blue and copper red
- Dimensions
-
30.5 x 26.0 x 12.5cm
- Credit
- Purchased 1964
- Accession number
- EC1.1964
- Location
- Lower Asian gallery
- Further information
A red front-facing dragon ascends from ocean waves, surrounded by scrolling clouds appearing like tongues of flame. Scrolling clouds are also shown emanating from the body of a dragon and from the pearl he chases. Clouds are among the earliest and continuously invoked auspicious symbols in Chinese art. The mystical 'cloud force' was believed to be a vehicle of the immortals. The benevolent rain-bearing dragon represents the authority and power of the imperial throne; the clouds and the waves symbolise two basic elements of the universe.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, January 2012
- Bibliography (10)
-
Author Unknown (Author), Cradles of Civilisation: China, Sep 1994, illus..
'Chinese Porcelain', pg. 30-41., Asian Collection Handbook, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1990, 1990, 39 (colour illus.).
'Far Eastern Art in the Art Gallery of New South Wales' by Edmund Capon, pg. 22-29., The Connoisseur May 1980, May 1980, 28 (illus.).
Editor Unknown (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Domain, 1972, 139 (colour illus.).
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 258 (colour illus.). See Further Information for text.
Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 77 (colour illus.).
Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Editor), Jan Meek (Australia) (Editor), Portrait of a Gallery, Sydney, 1984, 108 (colour illus.).
J. Hepburn Myrtle (Australia, b.1911, d.1998) (Author), Chinese porcelain of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, Sydney, 1977, 31. cat. no. 59.
'The Marvel of Porcelain', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 127 (colour illus.).
Adventures in Asia. An education kit for the Asian gallery 2003, 2003, cover (colour illus.), 5 (colour illus.). card no. 5; the colour illus. on cover is a detail of this work.
- Exhibition history (2)
-
Chinese porcelain of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 18 Feb 1977–26 Jun 1977.
Dragon (2012), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 18 Jan 2012–06 May 2012.
