Jingdezhen ware
(China)
- Title
- Dish with design of He Xiangu
- Other titles:
- Dish with the figure of He Xiangu
- Place of origin
-
Jingdezhen →
Jiangxi Province →
China
- Period
- Tianqi 1621 - 1627 → Ming dynasty 1368 - 1644 → China
- Year
- 1621-1627
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- porcelain with overglaze enamel decoration
- Dimensions
-
3.4 x 16.0cm
- Credit
- Purchased 1966
- Accession number
- EC9.1966
- Location
- Upper Asian gallery
- Further information
A type of export ware catering to Japanese taste was 'ko-sometsuke' (old blue-and-white) which is distinguished by its casual decoration, eccentric shapes and defective edges where the glaze has broken away (an effect prized by the Japanese, who term it 'mushikui', 'insect eaten'). The small dish depicts the Daoist Immortal He Xiangu who, according to popular legend, was a fairy whose diet of powdered mother-of-pearl and moonbeams gave her immortality. The seven-character poem has been translated as 'Born upon an auspicious cloud, she returns to the fairy grotto'.
The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.137.
- Bibliography (1)
-
'Export Ceramics', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 137 (colour illus.).
- Exhibition history (1)
-
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1966, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1967 -.
