Poetry in decoration of the Chinese porcelain of the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

From Qin (221 - 201 BC) to Sui (581 - 619) Chinese characters were applied in clay more and more frequently, mostly for practical use, like the note of the place, manufacturer, craftsman, owner, ware name, year and other information about its production. Xu Feng, Luntaocishuhua, [ВЫМХґЙК«Кй»­] ( About poetry, calligraphy and painting on ceramic) -- Huhehaote: Yuanfang Publishing House, 2005, 19 Besides, auspicious phrases emerged on ceramics in this period. For example, the twelve characters in small seal script on the eave tile of Qin dynasty (fig.1.2.3) was a prayer for a long-last, peaceful and healthy dynasty. The eave tile was regarded as a product of Qin's unification of China. Weng Xiaoyun, Tao cishufa, Zhongguotaoci [МХґЙКй·ЁЈ¬ЦР№ъМХґЙ] (Calligraphy on ceramic. Chinese ceramic) --2006 It is decorated both with patterns and Chinese characters, combines practical value, literary elements, patterns, and calligraphy. Later, the role of calligraphy and literary elements became more and more obvious in porcelain decoration. Characters in clerical script on Han's eave tiles already had a good decorative function. And some inscriptions in regular script on tomb bricks of Jin dynasty (226 - 420) were written in the form of poetry. Xu Feng, Luntaocishuhua, [ВЫМХґЙК«Кй»­] ( About poetry, calligraphy and painting on ceramic) -- Huhehaote: Yuanfang Publishing House, 2005, 18 These embodied the desire of the society for the literary value of decoration of ceramic.

Changsha kiln of Tang dynasty is an unignorable milestone for the development of painted decoration of porcelain, so is it for poetry on porcelain. This is the first climax in the history of poetry on porcelain. Xiao Xiang, Ciqishangdeshifenyuhuihua [ґЙЖчЙПµДК«ОДУл»ж»­] (Poetry and painting on porcelain)- Changsha: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House. 2006, 5 Tang dynasty was the heyday of Chinese feudal society. During this period, the economy of China rapidly burgeoned and prospered, so did culture and art. With the development of the ceramic industry, refined porcelain was admired by cultural people. Their admiration of porcelain deepened the influence of literature in the decoration of porcelain. One of the most evident phenomena is that poetries were found frequently on Changsha wares. Changsha kiln was a folk kiln, whose service object were thousands of ordinary people. Hence, the art of Changsha wares was destinated to be the art for the people.

The decoration of Changsha ware mainly includes painting and poetry, which was directly written on porcelain by ink brush initiatory. Most of the poems found on Changsha wares are poems with five or seven characters to a line. This is because the area of the vessel wall is limited, hardly contains a large number of characters. Besides Tang poems, aphorisms were also used in decoration. Poems on Changsha wares were written in various scripts: cursive, semi-cursive, regular, seal and clerical scripts are all included. But over eighty percent were in semi-cursive script. Fu Juyou, Tangdaiminjianyishudehuihuangchangshayaoshushihuataociyishu [МЖґъГсјдТХКхµД»Ф»Ні¤ЙіТ¤КйК«»­МХґЙТХКх] (Splendid folk art of Tang dynasty-the art of calligraphy, poetry and painting on Changsha ware)-China Academic Journal Network Publishing house,1884-2001 Maybe this is decided by the characteristics of the semi-cursive script: it is easy to be read and written. The writing script on porcelain was obviously affected by famous calligrapher, some of them were already with high skills. Characters on Changsha wares were always dark-brown or black, usually written on obvious areas of the wares, like the center of a plate, the belly of a jar, especially the area below the spout of a jar or a pot. That is because if decorations are arranged below the spout of a teapot or a flagon, guests can see the painting or poetry directly when the host pour wine or tea for them, which will make the atmosphere be better.

There are more than one hundred poems on Changsha wares but most of them were not contained in Complete collection of Tang poems (Quan Tangshi, ‘S“‚К«). These poems are mainly about wine, tea, filial piety and so on. Some of them reflected commodity economy. And some Changsha wares are decorated with foreign characters such as Arabic. These phenomena are closely related to the fad of drinking, the love of tea influenced by Zen Buddhism, the maritime silk road and other factors. Li Xiaowei. Changshayaodatangwenhuahuihuangzhijiaodan [і¤ЙіТ¤-ґуМЖОД»Ї»Ф»НЦ®Ѕ№µг] (Changsha kiln - the focus of the splendid culture of Tang dynasty) -- Hunan: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2003, 103 As for the theme of these poems, they almost cover every aspect of social life. According to monograph Poetry and painting on porcelain written by Xiao Xiang, these poems can be roughly divided into the following categories Xiao Xiang, Ciqishangdeshifenyuhuihua [ґЙЖчЙПµДК«ОДУл»ж»­] (Poetry and painting on porcelain)- Changsha: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House. 2006, 50-87:

1) Poems reflecting commodity economy. To a certain extent, this kind of poem can be seen as an advertising slogan. The seller wrote what they want to say in the form of poetry on the wares to attract customers. These poems are about the porcelains themselves on which they were written.

2) Poems about wine. Wine has been a common object that frequently appeared in poetry since ancient time. For cultural and elegant people drinking is always accompanied by poetry. In Classic of Poetry (11th -7th c. BC) one-tenth of poems are about wine, and the percentage of poems on Changsha wares is higher. Xiao Xiang, Ciqishangdeshifenyuhuihua [ґЙЖчЙПµДК«ОДУл»ж»­] (Poetry and painting on porcelain)- Changsha: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House. 2006, 47 Most of the poems about wine were written on pots to imply that this vessel is for wine and to inspire drinking.

3) Poems about nostalgia. After the golden time of Tang dynasty, the society began to be in turmoil, many people had to migrate because of the war. Turbulent era spawned a lot of lyric poems with rich emotions.

4) Poems about folktale. Widespread folktales often become the subject of art such as poetry, opera, novel, and other literary and artistic creation. These folktale poems satisfied the mental needs of the masses.

5) Poems about social life. There are a number of poems about host and guest, some reflect their friendship, some express appreciation of the guest to the host, some show the warm hospitality of the host. This demonstrates that hosting or being a guest is an important social activity at that time. This kind of poetry was usually applied to utensils for tea when chatting.

6) Poems about natural scenery. Poets are always easily inspired by four seasons and natural scenery. In addition, Changsha kiln located near Xiang River and Dongting Lake of Changsha city, Hunan province. There is no surprise that people were deeply attracted by the fascinating natural environment with mountain and water.

7) Poems about encouraging learning. Encouraging others to learn was a common cultural phenomenon, many articles, songs, poems are about persuading and encouraging to learn and to read. These poems are usually easy to be understood.

8) Poems about ethics. Ancient Chinese culture paid a lot of attention to moral and ethics. Poems containing ethnics which is in lines with mainstream ideology were intended for the edification of the masses.

Besides these themes, love relationship, Buddhism, politics and etc. are also common objects. What's more, due to the special structure of Chinese characters, word games and riddles can also be regarded as a popular poem type. And some special poems cannot be categorized into these themes. Overall, although the number of poems on Changsha wares is limited, their contents are abundant.

Most of Changsha wares are decorated either with a whole poem, sometimes accompanied with patterns or with one or several paintings. Compared with the previous dynasties, painting on Changsha ware made great progress.

Rare Changsha wares with figure painting were discovered so far. The jar painted with figures of Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and a poem (fig.1.2.4) can be called the very precious masterpiece of Changsha Kiln. Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove refer to the seven famous scholars in the Wei and Jin Dynasties in China. They were the representative figures of metaphysics at that time. On the abdomen of the porcelain jar, there is a painting of two sitting people. The two are looking at each other as if they are talking. On the other side of the jar, there is a neat poem which is in line with the theme of "seven sages of bamboo forests". On the right side of the poem writes “the first group of seven sages”, which shows that the jar should be one of a set of customized products. Throughout this jar, the paintings and poems are well-arranged, and they do not interfere with each other but depend on each other at the same time. It is the earliest example of the combination of poetry, calligraphy, and painting on porcelain, and with high achievement in these three arts.

Figure painting on porcelain in this period had two types: pure figure and figure in the scene. Besides human figures, birds, flowers, animals, mountains and clouds, architectures are the main painting subjects. Although lines and composition are relatively simple and rustic, smooth and varied curves made the objects vividly. Some motifs at this time have already been given auspicious meaning, such as a pair of birds is related to a happy marriage. Other mascots such as dragon and Phoenix were popular motifs as well. In short, paintings and patterns on Changsha wares still remain obvious characteristics of patterns on ancient painted pottery, but more complex, more lifelike, more various. Auspicious themes were popular among customers. From Changsha wares on, porcelain became a platform for genre painting.

The Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) was the era of literati. The literati pursued a natural and elegant way of life, focusing on the inner world and the spiritual realm. They advocated the beauty of the glaze itself on porcelain and opposed the decoration of artificial creation, which was thought to be the greatest damage to the integrity of glaze. However, in addition to the mainstream aesthetic, ceramic products with decorations were popular in the folk, mainly to meet the needs of ordinary people for literature, culture, and art, in this aspect Cizhou kiln porcelain was the most prominent. Pan Jun Cizhouy”cishiwenhua”pingxi [ґЕЦЭТ¤“ґЙК«ОД»Ї”ЖАОц] (Analysis of Cizhou ware“The poetry culture on ceramic”) --Wenbo magazine office, 2008 In addition to poems, words, couplets, proverbs, aphorisms, and ballads were also found on porcelain.

Cizhou kiln located in today's Handan city of Hebei province in north China. It was one of the biggest folk kilns in the Song dynasty. Cizhou ware is a kind of white porcelain with a transparent glaze. The white color belongs to the outer layer of white engobe that covers on the original rough clay, which is with poor quality. The most prevalent decoration method is to write or paint on the white engobe by ink brush. The black decoration has a better effect on the white ground than that on Changsha wares. A large number of pots, basins, bowls, plates, dishes, and other Cizhou wares are decorated with patterns, paintings or poetries, which shows that in this period poetry and painting in decoration on porcelain has been widely accepted and adopted. Among all of the wares, Cizhou pillows are the best objects to show the achievements of Cizhou kiln in decorating porcelain with poetry.

Cizhou Kiln is the second climax of ceramic poetry decoration after Changsha Kiln. Xiao Xiang, Ciqishangdeshifenyuhuihua [ґЙЖчЙПµДК«ОДУл»ж»­] (Poetry and painting on porcelain)- Changsha: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House. 2006, 5 During the long period from late Tang dynasty to early Ming dynasty, poetry in the decoration of porcelain gained great progress, especially boomed in South Song and Yuan (10th - 14th Centuries). The development of poetry on wares produced by Cizhou kiln is mainly reflected in the forms and number of poetries. In the case of Changsha wares, most of the poems on them are poems with five characters to a line. But on Cizhou wares, besides the most common form shi (К«) like that of Tang poems, other forms like Ci (ґК), Qu (‹И), Fu (ёі) can also be seen, the number of characters in the decoration of one porcelain varied from one to several hundred.

Famous Tang poems were popular in decoration of Cizhou wares. In the case of pillows, at the beginning they were decorated only with a poem, later some lines and patterns were added around the poem. Most of Cizhou wares are decorated with poetry and patterns or painting with patterns, while some combined painting, poetry, and patterns. In most cases, poetry, as an independent type of decoration, has no connection with patterns or paintings in terms of content or subject matter, but sometimes they echo each other.

The rectangular pillow painted with figures and a poem (fig.1.2.5) dating to Jin dynasty (1115 - 1234) is a rare example of the combination of painting and poetry. The top of the pillow featuring rhombus medallion design is framed by four lines, the two parts outside the medallion design are filled with painted flower patterns, inside the medallion design is a painting with figures. A teenager sits on knees on the riverbank with trees behind, performing a hold fist salute to an ancestor in front of him, who is going up to the sky. The front side of the pillow is painted with a big flower design within the rhombus frame. Within the same frame of the back side is a poem written into four vertical lines of five characters, which can be translated as “Its tower is one hundred feet high. You could reach out and pluck a star. We all spoke in hushed voices. Lest we disturb the folks up above.” (translated by Gong Jinghao) This pillow is considered to belong to grave goods. Through the last line - lest we disturb the folks up above - living people expressed their wishes for the deceased person to have a peaceful and happy life up there. The painting conveys their filial piety. In this case, painting and poetry echo each other.

Another excellent example of a combination of painting and poetry in the decoration of Cizhou ware is a wine flask (fig.1.2.6), collected by British museum. It has a flat unglazed base, four straight sides and an arched top with two loop handles and a narrow neck with a mushroom lip and narrow opening. Repeated on two sides is a parallel couplet written in two lines of seven characters, which can be translated as “A horse with golden stirrups treads in fragrant grasslands. A man in the jade pavilion is intoxicated in the apricot blossom skies”. This couplet is related to happy mood, beautiful scenery, love story, and drinking. Here, on a wine vessel, this couplet plays the function of inspiring drinking. The borders of the front and back sides are decorated by two pattern chains, inside the frame were paintings. On one side a man and woman are dancing beneath a willow tree with two goats nearby. On the other side, a man and a woman are on a bridge with a gateway, and cranes are flying in the sky. These are two illustrations of a story about a famous couple called Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun in West Han (202 BC - 8 AD). These two paintings depict the scenes of their dating and separation. Therefore, the content and atmosphere of paintings and the couplet are in common. Besides, Zhuo Wenjun, the woman, once had been a wine seller, which is an important plot in their love story, so they are ideal objects for a wine vessel.

In addition, for birds and flower patterns were widely used in decoration, when the poetry is about natural scenery, birds, flower, about the harmony between nature and mankind, the poetry and patterns can echo each other.

As for objects and themes of poetry on Cizhou wares, besides common objects such as scenery, emotions, society, love, daily life, ethics, education, historical story, legendary story, literary story, mythological story and etc., some poems are connected with the function of the wares, like wine pots are usually decorated with poetry about wine, flower pot with poetry about flower and pillows with poetry about pillow, sleeping and dreams…

As for paintings on Cizhou wares, compared with literati painting, ceramic painting is relatively simple, rough, unconstrained and passionate due to its folk character. The objects and theme are almost all-encompassing, closely connect with folklife and folk art, some of them overlap the themes and objects of poetry, like ethnics and popular stories. The playing child is a distinguishing painting content of Cizhou wares. Many wares are painted with one or more lively boys playing with various things, which reflects peoples desire for boys. Animals, floral and foliage motifs are also widely used in the decoration of Cizhou wares. Every species has its connotation, either represents longevity or wealth or good fortune, either symbolizes a noble human character.

Opera in Yuan dynasty was very popular and its performance had a great impact on paintings on porcelain. Many themes of paintings were derived from opera and some paintings were from printed illustrations of the opera. “Because these designs were derived from operas, so the scene was almost arranged as the stage, the apparels of characters were opera costume of Jin and Yuan.”

The successful firing of the blue and white porcelain in Jingdezhen in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) opened up a new world for the combination of porcelain and painting. The decorative function of porcelain decorated with paintings had been greatly affirmed. “Before Yuan dynasty, the application of engraved, incised and printed decoration method were much more frequent than painted decoration, but since the production of blue-and-white porcelain became mainstream, engraved, incised, printed decoration retreated to secondary positions and gave first place to painted decoration.” The Chinese Ceramic Society, Zhongguotaocishi, [ЦР№ъМХґЙК·] (The history of Chinese ceramics) -- Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1982, 338 But few blue-and-white porcelains of this period decorated with poetry were found.

During the Ming dynasty, Jingdezhen ceramic production reached a new peak, which made Jingdezhen a national porcelain center. The Ming dynasty established some imperial factories, which spared no expense and made every effort to create many new types of wares, mainly including the blue-and-white, the five colors and the colored glaze, which bore a unique artistic style and led ceramic art into new territory. With the development of the commodity economy, the private kiln was also booming, especially in the late Ming period. A lot of new forms of porcelain were created, and more and more household utensils and objects for decoration were made of porcelain.

While writing poetries on porcelain was not popular until the late Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing dynasties (1644-1908). The History of Chinese Ceramics compiled by the Chinese Ceramic Society wrote: "(In the late Ming dynasty) It is worth noting that on the blue and white porcelains from folk kilns … freehand brushwork landscape paintings were also prevalent, and poems were included in the paintings.” The Chinese Ceramic Society, Zhongguotaocishi, [ЦР№ъМХґЙК·] (The history of Chinese ceramics) -- Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1982, 379 The book Lovely Jingdezhen introduces a distinguished porcelain craftsman of late Ming called Hao Shijiu (1522-1620), who is famous for making super delicate eggshell porcelain and good at decorating porcelain with poetry, calligraphy and painting. his calligraphy was similar to the style of Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), a famous calligrapher of Yuan dynasty. Feng Shangyan, Keaidejingdehen,[їЙ°®µДѕ°µВХт](lovely Jingdezhen) - Jiangxi: Jiangxi peoples publishing house,1991,44 In addition, several porcelains dating to the Wanli, Tianqi and Chongzhen period of Ming dynasty (1573-1644) were recorded in publications like Catalogue of Chinese Ming Porcelain XiongJianxin, p174 and Identification of Blue-and-white Porcelain of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. These consistent records demonstrate that by the late Ming period, the combination of poetry and painting on blue and white porcelain began to become a common decoration method.

From Ming on, the application of poetry on porcelain was affected by literati painting. From Ming to Kangxi reign porcelain painted with poetry was mostly blue-and-white porcelain. But poetry was often taken as a supplement of painting rather than main decoration, neatly arranged, written in the clerical script or regular script. Like previous dynasties, many inscriptions quote from famous Tang, Song poetry. While some poems of the inscription were freshly composed according to the content of the painting, which shows the increase of the intellectual level of people involved in porcelain decoration.

Main themes of a painting of this period varied from landscape to plants, from Daoism to literary works, from elegant art to folk art. But paintings, which usually accompanied poetry, are landscape painting, figure painting derived from stories and bird-and-flower painting in literati taste.

The Blue and white porcelain vase painted with the landscape (fig.1.2.7) of Chongzhen Reign (1611-1644) have a long tube-shaped body, a short neck, and a flaring rim. The neck is painted with banana leaf patterns and the body with a landscape painting. Just as ink painting on paper, by controlling the intensity of underglaze blue, the illusion of depth and volume of mountains was created. The high mountains with lush vegetation are surrounded by white clouds. Written above the mountains on the blank is a poem named Spring Day, composed by Song's literati Zhu Xi (1130-1200). The poem depicts the fresh vibrant spring scenery, which echoes the landscape painting.

The reign of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong in Qing dynasty was the last highlight of feudal China, the art of porcelain in this period made splendid progress. Besides blue and white underglaze porcelain, overglaze porcelain like Wucai (five colors), Falangcai (enamel color), doucai (combined glaze) and famille-rose porcelain also became the main carrier of poetry.

The Set of wine cups with flowers of the twelve months (fig.1.2.8) represents the highest level of porcelain technique and decoration of Kangxi Reign. Each cup is painted with a flower figure representing a month. The flower of each lunar month has been outlined in black, before being depicted with cobalt blue and other enamels. The 12 flowers of the lunar cycle are prunus, apricot blossom, peach blossom, peony, pomegranate, lotus, rose, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, orchid, narcissus, and wintersweet. On the other side of each cup, a poem in five-character verses praises the flower. Each cup bears on the reverse side a poem in blue, followed in each case by the seal: ЙН (Shang, to appreciate). This is the first example that combines poetry, painting, calligraphy and seal on one work. It has been copied for many times by official and private kilns in the next centuries till the Republic of China.

In addition, writing an entire work on porcelain, mainly on brush holders and large square vases, was popular particularly in the Kangxi period. The main works included The First Memorial To The King Before Setting Off For War (Chushi Biao, by Zhuge Liang), Odes on Red Cliffs (Chibi Fu, by Su Shi), Come Away Home (Gui Qu Lai Xi Ci, by Tao Yuanming),Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng (Tengwang Ge Xu, by Wang Bo), Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion (Lantingji Xu, by Wang Xizhi) and so on. It's worth mentioning that porcelains painted with Ode About the Sagacious Emperor and Virtuous Officials (Shengzhu De Xianchen Song) are especially attributed to this period. It was composed by Wang Bao, a ministry of the Han dynasty, to depict the relationship between the wise emperor and virtuous officials. With the help of porcelains written with this work, the Manchu emperor showed his kindness and desire for Han intellects.

The Blue and White and Copper Red brush holder (fig.1.) collected by the Palace Museum is a typical work of Kangxi Reign, it is a cylindrical vessel with a straight body and white glaze inside and outside. The whole body is decorated with elegantly written inscription quotes from Ode About the Sagacious Emperor and Virtuous Officials in regular style in small characters in underglaze blue. Painted at the end of the prose is a seal comprising four characters “Kangxi Chuan'gu” in seal script in underglaze copper red.

The emergence and popularity of famille-rose porcelain and Falangcai porcelain helped porcelain become precious utensils and decoration of the royal family. Royal painters, calligraphers, and other literati directly participated in porcelain decoration, they often painted on porcelain and attached poetry to it. The elegance and harmony of poetry and painting were what they pursued. Yongzheng and Qianlong directly participated in selecting or composing poetry on porcelain. A large number of porcelains of their reigns are painted with their imperial poems. But due to the differences in the personal aesthetics of the emperors, the characteristics of these two reigns are very different. Porcelain with imperial poems can embody the characteristics of porcelain of this period the most.

Most of the porcelains of the Yongzheng period are small utensils like bowls, teapots, cups, plates, and small vases. Because of the limited area, text on them usually comprises not an entire poem but only one to two five- or seven-character verses, neatly orderly arranged, in semi-cursive script, with high calligraphy skill. Landscape, flowers, plants, birds, and animals are the main painting objects.

The bowl with the decoration of enamel painted plum blossoms (fig.1.2.10) is in typical Yongzheng style, whose decoration method is under great influence of the cups with flowers of months of the Kangxi period. Plum branches with blossoms are elegantly arranged on one side of the bowl and a verse comprising seven characters is written on the other side, two characters to a row, three rows and a half in total, with one seal before the verse on the upper left corner to the verse and two seals behind on the left. The verse here quotes from an ancient book Erya (¶ыСЕ) and can be translated as “Fragrant flowers blossom in the snow after a long time.” The blossoming-in-winter plum is usually compared to a person who is fearless and tenacious in Chinese culture.

Poems on porcelains of Yongzheng period were selected from the Imperial Selection of Poems compiled by the Kangxi emperor. These poems are in line with the taste and ideology of the monarch, part of them were not popular in folk. Chen Peijie, Yongzhengtijufalangcaicidetuwenguanxiyanjiu [УєХэМвѕд·©АЕІКґЙµДНјОД№ШПµСРѕї] (Research of the Relationship Between Text and Images of Yongzheng Enamel) -- 2012 While porcelains of Qianlong period often decorated with poems composed by himself. LI Nana. Qingdaiqianlongshiqibipingyishuyanjiu [ђґ‘гЉЈ—ІК±ЖЪ±ЪЖїТХКхСРѕї] (Research on the Wall Vase Art in Qianlong Period Qing Dynasty) -- 2012 Besides, porcelains of the Qianlong period have a very different style from the Yongzheng period. Yongzheng porcelains usually have delicate and concise appearance decorated with elegant images on white or other monochrome ground, many areas are left blank. While the Kangxi emperor was fond of gorgeous complicated decoration. Porcelains produced during his Reign are always filled with decorative motifs.

Vase with Beautiful Landscape Painting and Imperial Poem (fig.1.2.11) shows how exceptionally ornamental the decoration of porcelains from the Qianlong period is. The vase was painted in the ruby-red ground around the neck. And the floral motifs were made using a technique called sgraffito. And the green foliage motifs were painted on it. Around the should and foot is a kind of attached decoration. Painted on the round belly of the vase is a meticulous landscape painting outlined in black. The painting covers the whole middle part of the vase. On the front side, it depicts a garden with a bridge in the landscape alongside the river. At the back, there is a boat with a boatman and two passengers drifting on the river. above the boat in the blank area of the sky is an Imperial poem composed by the Qianlong emperor himself. The two seven-character verses in semi-cursive regular script were arranged into two lines with a seal at the end on the left. The meaning of the verses can be translated as “the scenery before the door is pleasant with fresh air, the boat carrying me is drifting in the painting”, which means that the scenery was so beautiful that as if he was in a picture.

On famille-rose and falangcai works of this period, the application of poetry in decoration was quite common. The Qianlong emperor liked to put poetry and painting in round or rectangular medallion design and decorate other parts of porcelain with different motifs and techniques.

The falangcai vase painted with landscape and poems in medallion designs (fig.1.2.12) is typical porcelain from the Qianlong period. It has a flaring lotus-petal-formed rim, a thick neck, a sloping shoulder, a round belly, and a flaring foot. It was glazed both inside and outside. The neck and foot are decorated with many layers of different patterns, on the neck is a loop of embossing design. On the body are four round medallion designs in four directions. Two of them are painted with landscape painting and the other two opposite medallion design are decorated with imperial poems in clerical style in ink. One painting matches with one poem. For example, one painting depicts the view of Kaifu temple and tower in the mountains. And the poem to the right side about the experience and feeling when the Kangxi emperor visited this place.

The medallion design with painting or poetry was a rather popular motif used in porcelain decoration in the Qianlong period. Most of the poems composed by Qianlong were neatly written on porcelains to record and show his literary achievement, they are not always accompanied by illustrations.

After the Qianlong Reign, the Qing dynasty gradually declined, so did the art of ceramics. However, by the end of the Qing, the rise of Qianjiang ware brought the art of poetry on porcelain to a new stage, which we will discuss in detail in chapter 2.

It can be seen from above that the combination of porcelain and poetry and calligraphy and painting occurred on different wares in different eras: poetry, calligraphy, and painting were on the utilities for household use at first, then spread to the objects for display, and finally moved to plane plaques with similar form of paper and silk, which we will see in the next chapter.

The social status of the authors involved in calligraphy and painting on porcelain throughout the whole process also constantly changed. The craftsmen of Changsha kiln were common people with low literacy and low status. Painters of Cizhou kiln were more literate and cultivated but still with low social status. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the calligraphy paintings on porcelains of the imperial kiln had fixed models, which were drawn by the court literati. Yongzheng and Qianlong often wrote poetry and sent craftsman to print their script on porcelain. By the end of Qing dynasty, more and more literati directly participated in painting and writing on porcelain. Some painters became famous ceramic painting artists. Due to the direct participation of literati, the art of poetry and painting on porcelain had entered a new stage.

Chapter 2. Poetry in the decoration of Qianjiang ware

In the previous chapter, the author analyzed the application of poetry in Chinese painting and Chinese ceramic decoration. The aim of this chapter is to know the characteristics of painted decoration of Qianjiang ware and the application of poetry in the decoration of Qianjiang wares, as well as its differences from that of previous porcelains and literati painting.

2.1 Introduction of Qianjiang ware

The term Qianjiang was initially used to describe a type of landscape painting by Yuan (1271-1368) master literati painter Huang Gongwang. It is typified by varying ink tone for the outline, shaded area and light ochre (sometimes also cool colors like cyan) for the lighted area. And Qianjiang ware refers to a special type of painted porcelain product which was very popular during the late-Qing period. It is normally coated in an overglaze of light colors, such as pale brown, water green, grass green, pale blue, light pink, etc., to render an atmosphere of the light-hearted landscape; these pieces are all low fired. Qianjiang ware is different from both Famille rose ware and paintings on Chinese silk or rice paper. The pigments used on both Qianjiang ware and Famille rose are almost the same, so are the firing temperatures (500-700°c). However, the black glaze used on Qianjiang ware is different, and the painters have different social status. Therefore, Qianjiang ware conveys a distinguished tension of aesthetics from Famille rose ware, and the composing elements of a picture are also different. A Qianjiang ware picture presents a different visual effect from a Qianjiang painting seen on other media, such as silk or rice paper. It brings out a more vivid multi-view effect when turning the porcelain vessel, just like unrolling a panorama, very sensitive to the light around.

Although most of the Qianjiang wares have inscriptions on it, which record the date, its birth year cannot be determined by now. Collector and connoisseur Liang Jiyong inferred that it emerged in the last years of Daoguang Reign (circa 1835-1850) by the features of glaze and painting. Thrived and prevailed in Tongzhi and Guangxu Reign (1862-1908) and declined in the early Republic of China, with a life span of more than sixty years.

The factors in the late-Qing period that resulted in the emergence of Qianjiang ware included politics, economy, society, culture, and market. Economic recessions, foreign invasions, and farmers' uprisings especially Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) that had destroyed the imperial kilns, many royal painters with high literacy participated in the production process of Qianjiang ware, they broke the rules of the imperial kiln and invigorated the porcelain decoration. On the other hand, porcelain was a new carrier for ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy, and the then scholars, artists, and artisans painted Qianjiang paintings either to release their own feelings or to make a living. In the late-Qing society, Qianjiang ware was deemed fashionable gifts among literati, merchants, officials, and rich people.

The rise and boom of Qianjiang ware were also related to the background of its artists who were normally well-educated literati. Their works have reflected the spiritual pursuit of scholar-artists. Qianjiang ware is deemed by some people as an elegant porcelain art that best represents literati's spirit and among all the categories of art, it involves the most literati in production. The involvement of literati artists improved the work by eliminating the unnaturalness by the craftsmen, made collecting this art worthwhile.

Qianjiang ware declined as a result of various factors, such as improved technique, market laws, cultural ideology, and artists' motivations. Its thin, low-fired glaze was easily worn off, which is the material factor that pushed the art to evolve. The decreasing Qianjiang artist painters and the increasing artisan painters is another reason contributing to the art's quitting the stage of history. The then just-invented new Famille rose boasts bright colors, against-fading quality, and a perfect combination of meticulous and freestyles in brushwork, all of which went well with common peoples' pursuit for novelty. Meanwhile, teamwork cooperation and quantity production rapidly improved the productivity of the new Famille-rose ware as well as met the people's demand for artistic porcelain. Most of “Eight Masters in Zhushan” as led by Wang Qi and Wang Yeting. Had close association with early Qianjiang ware masters, though they themselves represented the new Famille-rose school as well as other art schools. Both Qianjiang ware and the new Famille-rose ware are very similar in composing elements, themes, process flows, reign marks, and form and shape, and therefore we know the latter evolved out of the former. Ў¶ЦР№ъНнЗеЗіз­ІКЎ· РмЅх·¶Ј¬іВ±шЈ¬2011Ј¬ИЛГсГАКхіц°жЙз//Qianjiang Ware in the Late Qing Period, Xu Jinfan, Chen Bing, P34

Qianjiang porcelain was first used in display objects such as plaques, vase and so on. Later, with its popularity, it was commonly used in household utensils, which mainly includes objects used in scholar's studio, hat stands, tea sets or wine sets, and basins as well, almost covered the entire daily-used porcelain field. These forms aim to fully present painting on a ware, designed for decoration and noted for long-lasting quality. They are the main forms of Qianjiang ware. Painting genres seen on Qianjiang ware cover various themes, including landscape, birds and flowers, figures, antiques, and calligraphy. In order to cater to the market, there were also many works with the meaning of auspiciousness. Inscriptions, artist's seals and reign marks are also key elements to Qianjiang ware. An inscription normally includes the artist's formal, designated or literary name, when and where the ware was done, the people who gave and receive the ware, etc. A reign mark is normally seen in the ring foot of a ware, which records the time of production or who/which manufacturer the ware was made by. The existing Qianjiang-ware works were often dated “Made in Tongzhi Reign”, “Made in Guangxu Reign”, “Made by imperial Kiln” or “Collected by Xiao Yuan” and so on.

If categorized to art schools, Qianjiang-ware artists mainly follow the style of Xin'an School, while being influenced by other schools such as Loudong School, Yushan School, Yangzhou School, and Shanghai School. From Tonghzhi Reign till the Republic of China, there are altogether 550 Qianjiang painters, and Cheng Men (’цГЕ), Jin Pinqing (‹а•i‹Ё) and Wang Shaowei (‰¤Џ­О¬) are prized as the top three.Ў¶ЦР№ъНнЗеЗіз­ІКЎ· РмЅх·¶Ј¬іВ±шЈ¬2011Ј¬ИЛГсГАКхіц°жЙз//Qianjiang Ware in the Late Qing Period, Xu Jinfan, Chen Bing,, P24

2.2 Painting genres and forms of Qianjiang ware

Painting genres of Qianjiang ware

Qianjiang porcelain paintings have been rid of the single painting method of porcelain artisans using woodcuts and new year paintings as the model. The paper paintings of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties and contemporary masters also became their imitation objects. Qianjiang porcelain painters broke the rules and regulations of the official kiln, painting genres seen on Qianjiang ware not only include landscape, but also birds and flowers, figures, antiques, and calligraphy.

1. Landscape painting

The landscape paintings represent the highest achievements of the Qianjiang porcelain painting. Landscape painting can embody the literati taste and spirit the most with higher requirements for calligraphy and poetry. Cheng Men is the greatest figure of Qianjiang landscape porcelain painting. Besides his extraordinary mastery, he is outstanding in poetry. In most of his works, he wrote his own poetry which echoes the painting. The landscape painting is mostly composed of a layer of ochre and a layer of cyan to show the layering of the distant mountains. Qianjiang landscape paintings generally select the quiet scenery of the mountain forest, with motifs such as towering mountains with waterfall, running river with bridge, lake and mountain, fishing boat, flourishing woods, and tall bamboo bushes, temples and pavilions, farmhouses in the mountains and so on. The characters in the scene are usually in red or cyan, which makes them stand out. They are always with a crutch or Chinese zither or donkey or doing other things like recluse wandering in the mountains or fishing in streams which prevailed to convey the escapism and noble spirit of literati and their enthusiasm for nature.

The plaque painted with a thatched house in green landscape (fig.2.1.1) is a great example to show the close combination of poetry and landscape painting in porcelain. This is a flat plaque, so the composition is just like it in the paperwork. We can see that the distant view is dominated by mountains and the foreground is the riverbank, all of the mountains and the ground are covered with a layer of green grass, light or dark. Green trees are scattered on the bank. Among them, there are several thatched cottages, rather small when compared to the trees. In the left three fishing boats with fishermen are drifting on the river. This painting is full of vitality and tranquility. At the top of the plaque, above the mountains, the painter Chen Men left inscription in delicate and elegant running script with a seal. Besides basic information of the painting, the inscription includes a poem composed by the Cheng Men himself, which can be translated as:

Become neighbors in the trees and mountains,

Open the gate made of wood or tree trunk (symbol of a thatched cottage) facing the mountains;

Busy fishermen quickly turn the bow,

How much free time they will have in the evening?

Main objects can be found in the painting and the poem deepens the meaning of the painting, gives a complete story to the moment showed in painting, conveys a kind of far-reaching and profound feeling. In this case, the poetry, calligraphy, and painting integrated together perfectly.

2. Figure painting

The figure paintings on Qianjiang porcelains are mostly worked in the freehand brush (xieyi, ЋК€У), meticulous painting (gongbi, ЌH?) can rarely be seen. This is because of the drawing material constraints. Portraits are rather rare in Qianjiang porcelain painting. The figures usually include ladies, characters from literature, legendary figures with auspicious meaning and notable scholars. Literati's fondness for a special thing is a common theme in Chinese art. The color of the characters' costumes is usually red, blue and purple. Figure painting can be divided into pure portraits and history painting, which usually has allusions.

Some masters with superb artistic techniques left us great figure painting work in porcelain. For example, in the painting on the mallet vase painted with the theme of "longevity" (fig.2.1.2), the figures are rather vividly. This mallet vase carries painting on one side and calligraphy on the other. the red characters on the bottleneck are in bronze script and the black ones are its' translations written in running script style. The painting depicts an indoor scene with people. The main character - the old man stands in the middle. One woman in his right side and another woman in his left carrying a child and with two children at her feet. Two ladies and the shortest child are facing the man while the other two children turn around and look behind as if someone is coming. Everyone has a facial expression and communicates with each other, the old man looks calm and steady while the young kids are innocent, active and lively. Behind the woman on the left and the man is a table with vases and a bowl of peaches on it and a screen painted with sunrise at sea behind it. The peach represents longevity while the sea represents an abundance of happiness. The composition of this painting is well-organized and the relationship between the characters is clear. Through the key motifs - the old man, the young kids, and the peaches - the theme of this painting - longevity - is obvious. The inscription quotes a sentence from Classic of Poetry (Shijing, К«ѕ­). The original poem goes: “Rice planted in August, harvested in October. This rice is used to make this spring wine, I use this spring wine to pray for longevity.” Here the artist just quoted the second sentence. At the same time the form of the vase - like a mallet - gives a feeling of solidity and stability, which is also in harmony with the poetry and painting.

3. Bird-and-flower painting

“The bird-and-flower painting is closely related to Shanghai school painting. … They are very similar in conception, composition, and motifs.“ Liang Jiyong, Zhongguoqianjiangcaici [’†Ќ‘ђуз­ІКґЙ] (Chinese Qianjiang Ware) -- Beijing: Wenwu Publishing House, 2000, 23 For birds, parrots, Chinese paradise-flycatcher, red or white sparrows, magpies are the most popular motifs; for flowers usually paint wisteria, plum, orchid, pine, bamboo, peony, willow and etc., these motifs are all in line with taste and appreciation of the upper class and the market. Because of the character of Qianjiang color, flowers cannot be very bright, so flowers generally are relatively smaller. But if the object is a cluster of flowers such as peach blossoms or crape myrtles, then the bright effect will be less influenced. Bird-and-flower painting is commonly seen as being auspicious. “For instance, the peony symbolizes wealth, the pine tree and the Chinese bulbul longevity, the pomegranate fertility and posterity, and the magpie connotes happiness.”

The pair of cap stands with perfect bird-and-flower painting by Jin Pinqing, who is good at bird-and-flower painting on Qianjiang porcelain, is a refined example of bird-and-flower painting on porcelain. The whole painting is well-organized and neat, looks fresh and elegant, the brushwork is so delicate and beautiful that the birds are rather vividly and lifelike. This painting accurately depicts the image and dynamics of the birds and draws their character and psychological state at this moment. The branches, flowers, and birds interact with each other beautifully and naturally, and together with the exquisite calligraphy, they form a harmonious and perfect picture. The color and the brushwork of the trunks, branches, begonia flowers, and leaves are exquisite and delicate. The artist's superb artistic level is evident. But the inscriptions have no poetry, only record the painter, the date, the place, for whom and imitated whose painting style.

4. Antiquarian painting

Antiquarian painting (bogu hua, ”ЋЊГ‰ж) emerged in the late Ming period and prevailed in the Qing dynasty. It refers to the “painting of certain antique articles or objects - such as porcelain utensils, bronze cauldrons, or jadeite vases - that are usually beautified with embellished patterns or images of sagacious creatures. Its composition always includes flowers which signify good fortune, viewing stones, or other auspicious items which are also commonly seen in ornament painting” Maria CHENG, TANG Wai Hung, Eric CHOY, 18. Antiquarian painting can also be divided into two styles - freehand brush and meticulous (Gongbi and Xieyi) - by techniques. The meticulous painting uses the neat, elaborate and accurate technique to depict the object, while the Xieyi painting makes the ornamentation full of life and more flexible with bold, rough and concise brushwork.

Vase with animal-mask ears and antiquarian painting by Xu Pinheng is one of rare Qianjiang porcelains with meticulous antiquarian painting. The painter drew a stack of porcelains, books, and flowers with fine and obvious lines. The wares, the books, the bonsai, especially the landscape paintings on the vases and plaques show the rich literati interest of the artist. The poetry on the other side of the vase reads: “Things used to appreciate and play with love to compete in beauty, but this one is different and free from vulgarity. Look at the painting in this scroll, there are all the pine trees, mountains, and clear springs.” Although the poetry is not a depiction of the painting, they convey the same idea - pursue a noble spirit and get rid of vulgarity.

5. Calligraphy

Calligraphy, poetry, inscription, seal, and painting be in perfect harmony is the most obvious feature of Qianjiang porcelain. In the case of Qianjiang porcelain, calligraphy is a quite important part of a work. Most of the Qianjiang porcelain painters are calligraphers at the same time. Generally, inscriptions on Qianjiang porcelains are in semi-cursive script. Besides, the red bronze script (jinwen, ‹а•¶) can also be seen frequently in Qianjiang vases at the bottleneck. According to Liang Jiyong, bronze script was a popular motif and decoration during the late Qing period and the Republic of China. Liang Jiyong, Zhongguoqianjiangcaici [’†Ќ‘ђуз­ІКґЙ] (Chinese Qianjiang Ware) -- Beijing: Wenwu Publishing House, 2000, 25 As for the seals, they were always painted after the inscriptions on the curved surface of porcelain instead of being imprinted. In some porcelains, the text of the seal is just one character “seal (€у)” instead of name and pseudonym. That is to say, the seal must be painted as a part of the format of Qianjiang painting, no matter it comprises useful information or not.

Cheng Men is a genius at writing running script on the Qianjiang porcelain. According to the inscription, the plaque painted with landscape alongside the Xin'an River (fig.2.1.5) is a work by Chen Men in early July 1881 for his friend, an official named Yu Qing, who had stationed in Changjiang district, Jingdezhen city for ten years. Now the official is promoted and transferred, so Cheng Men made this plaque for congratulation. Xin'an River is a river in Changjiang. The painting is an illustration for the inscription. The content of the inscription plays an important role in this case, so superb calligraphy mastery is required for a top grade Qianjiang porcelain.

Forms of Qianjiang ware

In previous section two plaques, two vases and a cap stand have been introduced, but the use of Qianjiang ware was far more widely. Qianjiang ware was widely used in the late Qing period and can be divided into two groups - works for display (like plagues, vases, cap stands and flowerpots and so on) and daily-used wares (like objects used in scholar's studio, jars, cases, dishes, plates, basins, pots, teapots, bowls, cups and others). For different forms, the format of painted decoration is different.