Glossary
Fahua
The term fahua translates as ‘bounded design’. The motifs on this type of ware are outlined in a raised trail of slip to prevent the different coloured glazes (mainly purple and blue) used from running together on an earthenware or stoneware body. First made in the Yuan period (1279-1368), principally in Shanxi province. Fahua glazed porcelain was produced from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty (1368-1911) at the kilns of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province.
Celadon
Celadon is a Western term used for a range of green glazed wares, created with iron and titanium oxides in the glaze composition and fired in a reducing atmosphere. Celadon ware was first produced during the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD) in Zhejiang province but reached their zenith during the Song (960AD-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties. Celadon wares were produced in kilns both in the north and south of China. Longquan celadon wares, produced at Longquan in Zhejiang province in southern China, are characterised by the clarity and subtle texture of their glaze. Yaozhou celadons are northern ware produced in Shaanxi province between the Tang and Yuan dynasties. Carved decoration is popular on Yaozhou ware, characterised by decoration in bold relief.
Korean celadon
Korean celeadons are the most famous of Koryo dynasty ceramics (918-1392 AD). Korean celadon wares were influenced by Chinese ceramics, from Yue to Ding ware and Yaozhou celadon. Korean innovations include animal and vegetable shaped objects and inlay decoration (sanggam). This technique consisted of designs such as clouds, flowers and grapevines being incised onto the body of the object and then painted with black or white inlay before glazing and firing.
Famille Rose
Famille Rose (pink family) is a Western term introduced by Albert Jacquemart to describe falangcai (enamel colours) decoration on porcelain. This was developed in the late Kangxi (1662-1722) and early Yongzheng periods (1723-35) initially using imported enamels from Europe. The enamels used were opaque or semi-opaque with the characteristic rose pink alongside opaque yellow and white, amongst other colours.
Famille Verte
Famille Verte (green family) is a Western term introduced by Albert Jacquemart to describe polychrome enamel decoration, including green, on porcelain. Also referred to as wucai (five colours). Underglaze blue decoration is combined with three or more overglaze colours. Most popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Cizhou
Cizhou ware are characterised by painted, carved, sgraffito and incised motifs in black, white, green or brown on a stoneware body. Produced from the Song dynasty (960 AD -1279) onwards. Initially made at kilns in Cixian and Pengcheng, production then spread more widely over northern China. Cizhou ware are typically for domestic use.
Blanc de Chine
This is a French term used to describe white-glazed export porcelain produced at the kilns of Dehua, Fujian province, in the 17th and 18th centuries. Typical shapes include libation cups, in the form of rhinoceros horns (believed to have aphrodisical properties), Buddhist iconography such as figures of Guanyin (Chinese Goddess of compassion and mercy) and groups of Westerns described as ‘Governor Duff’ figures. These groups are known as Governor Duff after a Dutch governor (Duiven) in Indonesia.
Jun ware
Jun wares were made at kilns in Yuxian, Henan province (previously part of Jun county). Production flourished under the Song (960 AD–1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties. The site of the baguadong official workshop at Yuxian was discovered in 1964. This had produced ware for the Imperial court. Noted for copper for reds and flambé glazes with purple and red mottling. Also made in Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Zhejiang provinces. Jun ware is undecorated, the glaze and shape are the main features.
Jian
Jian wares are mostly glazed in dark colours and were first produced at kilns in Jianyang in Fujian province during the Song dynasty (960 AD-1279). They are mainly associated with tea ware and conically shaped tea bowls . A variant is ‘hare’s fur’ glaze which is a black glaze with rust-coloured streaks. The rise in popularity of this ware was concurrent with the rise of tea drinking and admiration for jian yao spread beyond China’s borders in particular to Japan. Also know as tenmoku, the Japanese pronunciation for the Chinese mountain Tianmu shan where Buddhist monastic communities used the tea bowls. Japanese monks visited the monasteries and took bowls back to Japan.
Yixing
Yixing wares made at Yixing, Jiangsu province from zisha (purple clay). The clay body of yixing ware has a porosity of 5% and is believed to enhance the flavour, colour and taste of tea. Yixing has been the centre of Chinese teapot production from the Song dynasty (960 AD -1279) onwards. Widely exported to Europe from the seventeenth century onwards and from the nineteenth century to Southeast Asia, Japan, Mexico and South Africa.
Guyuexuan
Guyuexuan (ancient moon pavilion) wares were an attempt to imitate the European method of overglaze painting. The style is characterised by a landscape scene accompanied by a four or six line poem and red seals. The decoration is painted in delicate shades of overglaze enamels. First used on glass, more specifically on snuff bottles, it was adapted for use on porcelain during the Kangxi Emperor’s reign (1662-1722).
Batavian ware
Chinese export ware characterised by a brown glaze. Named after the Dutch East India Company trading port and settlement of Batavia (present day Jakarta), Indonesia in the eighteenth century.
Kakiemon
Japanese porcelain with a sparse overglaze decoration, produced near Arita, Hizen province, Japan, from the late 17th century onwards. Wares in the Kakiemon style were produced at various kilns and it is therefore problematic to assign provenance to any one kiln or even in some cases to distinguish from Imari style ware. Kakiemon style patterns were copied in 18th century Europe, notably at Meissen in Germany and Chelsea and Bow in England.
Raku
Raku ware are traditionally used as tea bowls (chawan) for the Japanese tea ceremony. The ware is hand moulded, low-fired and lead-glazed, typically red or black in colour. The term raku has its origins in a seal (raku, pleasure or ease) of appreciation presented to the originator of raku ware, Chojiro (1573-1615), in the 16th century. After this the family took on the name Raku. Chojiro’s acquaintance with the tea master Sen Rikuyu (1522-1591) is believed to have led to him creating tea bowls for the tea ceremony under his guidance.
Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu) is influenced by Zen Buddhism. Powdered green tea (matcha) is ceremonially prepared and served to others. The equipment (chadogu) needed for the tea ceremony includes chawan (tea bowls) and chaire (tea jars). Chaire can be stored in decorative bags (shifuku) and have ivory lids lined with gold leaf.
Makuzu Kozan
Miyagawa ‘Makuzu’ Kozan (1842-1916), Japanese potter, whose work includes Satsuma-style earthenware, often with applied modelling in high relief, and from the 1880s monochrome glazes (influenced by Chinese glazes). From the late 1880s Kozan had handed over the running of his business to his stepson, Hannosuke (Hanzan, 1845-1940) and therefore his most celebrated work was made by Hanzan, although signed by Makuzu.
Dragon jar
Large storage jars decorated with underglaze blue dragons were a feature of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910). In Korea dragons are believed to bring good fortune to those they favour. They are a symbol of the authority of the ruler. During the rule of King Yongjo (1724-1776) dragon jars were the only blue and white wares sanctioned for production as the cobalt needed had to be imported from the Middle East via China.
Five boats – goso sen
‘Five Boat Style’ (gososen-de) decorations on export Imari ware. Also known as ‘Black Ship’. Produced at Arita, Hizen province, Japan. The subject of the decoration is European ships and Dutch figures, relating to the Dutch East India company and its trade in Japanese porcelain. Early examples were made in the 18th century, but most date to the nineteenth century.
Bats
Bats are an auspicious symbol in Chinese symbolism as the Chinese word for bat has the same sound as the word for happiness (fu). Five bats represent the five blessings of age, health, wealth, virtue and natural death. A dish within the collection combines two decorative themes: a peach tree and five bats symbolising wufu-qingshou (five bats celebrate a birthday) and five bats flying over the sea, shoushan-fuhai. This is a shorthand term for 'Happiness like the East Sea is never ending. One can live as long as the pine on the Southern mountain'. Other dishes with this decoration were commissioned to wish the empire a long existence.
Scholar’s studio
Scholars have traditionally been greatly respected in China. Their studio was a place for business, painting, composition of poetry and entertaining. The objects associated with the scholar include those used for calligraphy and painting, such as water droppers, brush washers and brush holders. These were often in the form of plants or animals.
Jingdezhen
Jingdezhen in northeast Jiangxi province is known as China’s ‘porcelain centre’. Kilns were in operation here from at least the 10th century, both private workshops and also official ceramic production for the Imperial court. The area is well situated for natural resources, such as kaolin and water. Clay was mixed with kaolin (gaoling, China clay, mainly consisting of silicon oxide and aluminium oxide alongside a low iron oxide content) to produce porcelain, with an improved, harder body and glaze. Jingdezhen produced goods for export and domestic use alongside imperial tribute. Ming imperial administration was established at Jingdezhen in 1393 -1402, during the reign of the first Ming emperor, Hongwu (1368-1398). The period between circa 1620 and 1683 has been described as the ‘Transitional Period’ when the imperial kilns were not given imperial funding. This was initially due to fund being diverted to meet the threat of Manchu invasion. This period saw a seeking of new markets, in particular Japan and Europe, and also new influences on the wares created. In 1674 Jingdezhen was burnt down during fighting between the new Manchu rulers and Chinese rebels. It was rebuilt in 1677 and the reigns of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors were periods of prosperity. The output of imperial ware increased greatly during the Qing dynasty to over 10,000 pieces per year. Within the imperial court there was a hierarchy of use regarding shapes and colours. Only the emperor and empress could use ware decorated with dragons on a yellow ground (glazed on the exterior and interior in yellow). Pieces decorated with dragons with other coloured glazes could be used in a colour-coded hierarchy. Reports of porcelain production at Jingdezhen arrived in Europe thanks to the presence of Jesuit missionaries in China. Two letters written by Père d’Entrecolles in 1712 and 1722 describe the manufacture of porcelain. These were amongst the first accounts available in the West and were to spark a craze for Chinese porcelain and attempts to reproduce it. However, this had already successfully been achieved in 1710 at Meissen in Germany.
Porcelain continues to be made at Jingdezhen to this day.
Flambé
Flambé glazes can include iridescent blue, purple and brown glazes. They are also known as transmutation glazes (yao bian), due to the transmutation of colloidal copper, iron and other metallic materials added to their glazes. They emerged as a result of experiments at Jingdezhen during the reign of the Yongzheng emperor who commissioned potters to re-create the classical Jun ware of the Song period. This resulted in wares with archaic bronze shapes and iridescent glazes.
Langyaohong
Langyaohong are red glazed wares made at the Lang kiln, also known as sang de boeuf (ox-blood red). High-fired copper red glaze with crackles or thick drops at foot of vessel.
Imari
Imari porcelain is a term used to describe porcelain produced in Arita, Hizen province, Japan, from the seventeenth century onwards. Kaolin deposits were discovered nearby at the turn of the seventeenth century by Korean potters. It is named after the port of Imari from where porcelain was shipped to other parts of Japan and abroad by the Dutch (Dutch East India company, VOC). The Dutch had initially turned to Japan during a period of disruption at Jingdezhen in China and Arita’s golden age began in the 1680s when demand from Europe was very high. Underglaze blue decorated porcelains were also made at Arita. Imari is characterised by underglaze blue decoration with enamels and gold painted over the glaze.
Butterfly: a symbol of both summer and joy. Often shown amongst flowers.
Peony: a common motif in Chinese art and a symbol of good fortune, love and feminine beauty. When shown with plum blossom and butterflies they stand for long life and beauty.
Dragon: one of the most well-known motifs in Chinese art and said to represent the Emperor. It is a symbol of good fortune and protection. It is believed that the dragon can reduce its size to that of a silk worm or increase it in order to fill the skies.
Phoenix: this represents the Empress and is often shown alongside the dragon. The phoenix is a symbol of longevity and abundance.
Three friends of winter: when the plum and pine trees are shown alongside the bamboo plant they form the three friends of winter (suihan sanyou). Pine and bamboo remain green all year round and the plum tree is the first to flower in spring, they are therefore emblems of longevity and winter. They can also be seen to represent the three religions of China, Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism and the three ideal qualities of a gentleman: longevity, perseverance and humility.
Horse: when shown alone it represents speed, strength and stamina. When eight horses are shown together these represent the legend of Mu Wang, which tells of eight mythical horses who led the Zhou leader Mu Wang to Mount Kunlun. Mount Kunlun is believed to be the location of the Daoist paradise.
Peach tree: in ancient China this tree was considered sacred and its wood was used to make charms to protect against evil spirits. The blossom of the tree is a symbol of the New Year and the fruit is a symbol of long life.
Birds: birds were considered very important in the Daoist religion (one of the three main religions of China alongside Buddhism and Confucianism). They were often believed to go back and forth between the world of the spirits and that of humans.
Fu dog: also known as Buddhist lions. Traditionally used as guardians at the entrance to buildings.
