西川茂
JAR, Porcelain with design of birds and flowers in cloisonné style (fahua ware)
| Designation | Important Cultural Property |
|---|---|
| Date1 | Ming dynasty |
| Date2 | 15th century |
| Height(cm) | 44.5 |
| Diameter(cm) | 39.4 |
| Weight(g) | 14540 |
| Collection | The ATAKA Collection |
| Credit Line | The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (gift of SUMITOMO Group, the ATAKA Collection), photograph by NISHIKAWA Shigeru |
| Accession No. | 00561 |
| Description | Fahua is a decorative technique in which lead glazes of various colors fill in the motifs with raised outlines and belongs to the family of sancai or three-color technique. There are several opinions on its origin: some say they can trace it back to the sancai tiles and others to the cloisonné enamel decoration on bronze vessels, but the truth remains to be a mystery. Fahua decoration can be done on both stoneware and porcelain bodies, and it has been indicated that the latter tend to be large in size, the form and style of decoration sharing some common elements with the Jingdezhen porcelain, both blue-and-white and wucai or overglaze polychrome enameled wares. This piece is a masterwork representing a superb fahua ware in terms of its form, decoration and color of the glaze. A pair of birds perching on a flowering branch are depicted on each side of the jar and the spaces are filled with motifs including plum and camellia flowers, waves and ruyi patterns. The glossy dark blue background and the white color demonstrate a remarkably beautiful contrast, while the partially added yellow effectively gives a pleasant accent to the overall atmosphere. The interior of the body and foot ring are covered with a rough green glaze. |
| URL for TIFF images | https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HuJd-22wR6tGo_AuSDS6e83vesnc_-yT?usp=sharing |