A vibrant exploration of the fascinating and complex trade encounters and cross-cultural interactions between the East and West in the early modern period.
This book follows Chinese porcelain through the commodity chain, from its production in China to trade with Spanish Merchants in Manila, and to its eventual adoption by colonial society in Mexico. As trade connections increased in the early modern period, porcelain became an immensely popular and global product. This study focuses on one of the most exported objects, the guan. It shows how this porcelain jar was produced, made accessible across vast distances and how designs were borrowed and transformed into new creations within different artistic cultures. While people had increased access to global markets and products, this book argues that this new connectivity could engender more local outlooks and even heightened isolation in some places. It looks beyond the guan to the broader context of transpacific trade during this period, highlighting the importance and impact of Asian commodities in Spanish America.
Beginning in the sixteenth century when Portuguese traders started importing blue and white porcelain to Europe, Chinese ceramics manufacturers produced goods specifically for export to the West. The industry flourished through the early twentieth century as the market for fine porcelain expanded in Europe and the Americas. Among the Peabody Essex Museum's founders in 1799 were sea captains and supercargoes involved in extensive trade with Asia, and many of the remarkable examples of export wares they brought back provided a foundation for the Museum's world-renowned collection of Chinese export ceramics. Written by William R. Sargent, a leading expert in the field, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics is one of the most authoritative sources on this topic. Its scholarly entries on 287 representative objects that date from the fifteenth to the twentieth century are divided into sections by type of ware. Although these examples only hint at the Museum's vast holding, together they encompass its broad range of Chinese export ceramics. An essay on Jingdezhen, the "Porcelain City," by Rose Kerr, a glossary of ceramics terminology, and appendix on armorials, and an extensive bibliography all contribute to making this an invaluable resource.
A fully illustrated colour catalogue of one of the largest extant collections of Chinese Export Porcelain, held in the Reeves Center in Washington and Lee University, Virginia, USA.
Among the most revered and beloved artworks in China are ceramics—sculptures and vessels that have been utilized to embellish tombs, homes, and studies, to drink tea and wine, and to convey social and cultural meanings such as good wishes and religious beliefs. Since the eighth century, Chinese ceramics, particularly porcelain, have played an influential role around the world as trade introduced their beauty and surpassing craft to countless artists in Europe, America, and elsewhere. Spanning five millennia, the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of Chinese ceramics represents a great diversity of materials, shapes, and subjects. The remarkable selections presented in this volume, which include both familiar examples and unusual ones, will acquaint readers with the prodigious accomplishments of Chinese ceramicists from Neolithic times to the modern era. As with previous books in the How to Read series, How to Read Chinese Ceramics elucidates the works to encourage deeper understanding and appreciation of the meaning of individual pieces and the culture in which they were created. From exquisite jars, bowls, bottles, and dishes to the elegantly sculpted Chan Patriarch Bodhidharma and the gorgeous Vase with Flowers of the Four Seasons, How to Read Chinese Ceramics is a captivating introduction to one of the greatest artistic traditions in Asian culture.
"Features Chinese porcelains exported to Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries, with color photographs, item descriptions, and information about the original owners for each item"--OCLC
This sumptuous volume accompanies a traveling exhibition of the same name that opens at Winterthur in February 2005. The full-color volume highlights 117 exquisite export porcelain objects from the extensive Leo and Doris Hodroff Collection at Winterthur. Authors Ron Fuchs and David Howard ground their presentation with an introductory overview of the manufacture of porcelain, the history of the china trade, and the importance of export porcelain in European and American history and material culture. Individual entries are grouped according to function: dining wares, drinking wares, household and personal utensils, and decorative wares. Each grouping is preceded by a short essay that places the objects within a historic context. An illustrated appendix addresses the coats of arms found on many of the objects, and an extensive bibliography offers supplementary readings.
Porcelain dishes made in China for 18th- and 19th- century American families from Maine to South Carolina and west to Mississippi and California are presented with family crests, initials, names, and original decorations.
Chinese export porcelains of the late 18th to late 19th centuries are fully discussed in this book. Lists and photography profusely illustrate all of the standard patterns: over 1000 items illustrated in black and white and more than 100 in color. Covers Canton, Fitzhugh, Rose Medallion, Bird and Butterfly, and the other associated patterns.
"China has a flourishing maritime trade since antiquity. The collection of Ambassador and Mrs Charles Muller, which they began assembling between 1970 and 1973, when the ambassador was stationed in Indonesia, includes around three hundred pieces of Chinese export ceramics manufactured for the South-East Asian market and dating from the first to the seventeenth century, among which is an assortment of rare "Swallow" porcelain. This exceptional collection ws bequeathed to the Baur Foundation and underlines the broad variety of Chinese cermaics, ranging from the solid stoneware of the first century to the translucent and celadon stoneware of the Song and Yuan periods (9th-14th c.) and the "blue and white" ware of the Yuan and Ming dynasties (14th-17th c.)." --Book Jacket.