For the Love of Broken Porcelain The Efforts to See, Study, and Share the World’s Largest Collection of Yuan-dynasty Blue-and-white Porcelain (original) (raw)
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2021
When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. individuals and it is my pleasure to thank them here. First, I would like to express my gratitude to supervisor Dr Stacey Pierson, for her time and intellectual interest in this subject, for sharing her scholarly expertise, scrutinising my writing and ensuring the most rigorous of approaches to my PhD. Dr Louise Tythacott also provided valuable encouragement and guidance, helping to bring early thoughts to fruition. Colleagues past and present at the V&A and British Museum facilitated both access to the collections and the archives. I am particularly grateful to Dr Yu Ping Luk, Jessica Harrison-Hall and V&A Archivist, Nicholas Smith who were open and generous with their time and experience. I also thank former V&A curator Michael Archer and British Museum historian, Marjory Caygill for their recollections of earlier museum history. Archival research contributed significantly to this thesis and I would like to thank the following institutions for their assistance:
A Technological Study of Chinese Porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty (with M Tite, M Bimson)
Tite, M.S., Freestone, I.C., and Bimson, M. 1984, A technological study of Chinese porcelain of the Yuan dynasty, Archaeometry, 26 (2), 139 54. , 1984
Optical and scanning electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis and X-ray diffraction are used to determine the composition and microstructure of the bodies and glazes of Chinese porcelain of the Yuan dynasty from Jingdezhen, as well as samples of porcelain-stone and glaze-stone from the same region. The original mineralogical compositions of the porcelain bodies and glazes are estimated. The results indicate that the yingqing porcelain bodies were made using a kaolinised porcelain-stone whereas the underglaze blue porcelain bodies were prepared by the addition of kaolin to a kaolinite-free porcelain-stone. In both cases, the glazes were made by mixing ‘glaze-ash’ (i.e. lime) with the porcelain stone used to make the bodies.
Porcelain and the Material Culture of the Mongol-Yuan Court
This paper offers a re-evaluation of the significance of porcelain during the Yuan dynasty by analyzing a type of ceramics known as luanbai or shufu wares. These matt white porcelains, sometimes inscribed with the characters shu and fu, have generally been seen as official wares, manufactured on the orders of the highest echelons of the Yuan central government and classified as high-quality luxury wares associated with the imperial court. This paper proposes that this conventional interpretation is misleading. Instead of understanding luanbai wares as part of the narrative of ceramics manufacture and the history of porcelain, I explore their relevance by situating them in the context of Yuan-dynasty material culture more broadly, court-sponsored craft manufactures, and the practice of inscribing objects. This approach reveals a different story, highlighting the absence of court control over ceramic production, the ensuing freedom to experiment locally with new ceramic production methods, and the significance of the demands of consumers in territories outside Yuan China.
Plaques Portraying Late Porcelain Production in Jingdezhen
Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, 2022
Although there are many illustrations of porcelain production in Jingdezhen before the mid-nineteenth Century, late handcrafted porcelain production scenes are unknown. Here, I describe a recently discovered set of seventeen handcrafted porcelain plaques datable from the end of the nineteenth to the first part of the twentieth century which fill in that gap. These plaques are unique in that they are three dimensional, carved rather than molded, and sagger production is emphasized, a characteristic not found on earlier depictions. Furthermore, Chinese script on each plaque describes the step(s) of porcelain production portrayed. In summary, these plaques are not only additive to previous depictions of Jingdezhen porcelain production but historically significant in that they portray a later date than those described earlier.
The Pilgrim Art: The Culture of Porcelain in World History
The Journal of World History 9/2, 1988
Examines the global influence of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain from the 6th century to the late 18th century; the paper concludes by arguing that "porcelain and its imitations provide the first and most widespread evidence for sustained cultural encounter on an ecumenical scale, perhaps even for intimations of true global culture."