A selection of plates taken from “Oriental ceramic art : illustrated by examples from the collection of W.T. Walters” which came out in 1897 as a limited edition of 500 copies. L. Prang and Company, lithographers. Published by D. Appleton and Company.

Art book/folio 6 Minutes
PLATE XII. TWO PRIMITIVE PIECES. 1. TEACUP (Ch’a Wan), of the Hang-chou imperial ware (Kuan Yao) of the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279), of semi-globular form, curving in at the lip, with a circularly rimmed, slightly spreading foot, which has a pointed projection in the middle underneath. Invested with a minutely but deeply crackled glaze of grayish-blue color, becoming of more pronounced lavender tint inside the cup. The rim of the foot, where it is not covered by the glaze, shows the characteristic brownish iron-gray color of the paste, and the lip is reddish gray at the edge, where the glaze is thin. It is mounted on a carved stand of dark wood, and is of thick, solid material, in order to retain heat, as prescribed in the ceremonial of the tea clubs of the period. 2. VASE FOR FLOWERS (Hua Tsun), of typical Yuan dynasty porcelain (Yuan Tx’u, 1280-1367), of rounded quadrangular form, with two tubular handles, modeled after an archaic bronze sacrificial design. The glaze, which is spread on thickly, runs down in an unctuous mass, which does not completely cover the foot, and shows a grayish buff-colored paste of intense hardness; inside the mouth of the vase, it runs down for about an inch and also ends in an irregularly convoluted line. It is of grayish-blue color, with a shade of lavender, crackled with an irregular reticulation of deep lines, becoming pale brick-red round the upper rims of the vase and handles where the glaze is thin. The surface is stained in two places with mottled clouds of warm red passing into purple at the edges. Clouds of this kind, the result of some fortuitous oxidation during a firing, are highly valued by Chinese collectors; sometimes they are fancied to take the form of a bird or butterfly, or some other natural object. Page 12, Oriental ceramic art : illustrated by examples from the collection of W.T. Walters. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125015239219/page/n12/mode/1up
PLATE XIII. FUCHIEN WHITE PORCELAIN. WINE-POT (Chiu Hu), of ivory white Fuchien porcelain (Chien Tz’u) modeled in the shape of an inverted pomegranate, and of about the natural size of the fruit, the dentated apex of which forms the foot. The handle is modeled as a branch that sends off two twigs to supply a relief decoration for the bowl as it winds up to make a loop on the cover, which it envelops in a crown of leaves. A line of verse is engraved on the back of the bowl.  2. CYLINDRICAL TEA-POT Ch’a Hu), of the same ivory-white porcelain, in the form of a joint of bamboo bounded around with a knotted cord, with a pair of bearded dragons of archaic lizardlike design with spreading bifid tails attached to it; the one crawling downward with its back bowed to make the handle, the other lifting its gaping mouth as the spout. The round cover is surmounted by the tiny figure of a grotesque lion. The design, freely and artistically treated, is clothed with a soft-looking lustrous glaze of the characteristic ivory-white tone of the finest old porcelain of the province of Fuchien, and the base, unglazed, shows the smooth, even texture of the paste. Page 20, Oriental ceramic art : illustrated by examples from the collection of W.T. Walters. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125015239219/page/n20/mode/1up

PLATE XIV. TWO PIECES OF K’ANG-HIS BLUE AND WHITE. TALL TWO-HANDLED CUP AND COVER (Kai Wan), with each loop handle fashioned in the form of two dragons’ heads grasping a round jewel between their gaping jaws, and a bulging cover surmounted by a metal knob shaped like an acorn of European design. The cover, as well as the cup, is decorated in pale blue of pure color, with conventional borders of foliated panels brocaded with white flowers on a blue ground. The intervals on the cup are filled with groups of the paraphernalia of the scholar and artist, books on tables, brushes in vases, water receptacles, and scroll pictures, all enveloped with waving fillets, and mixed with tasseled wands and double diamonds, symbols of literary success. 2. SMALL JAR (Hsiao Kuan) painted in bright blue in the early K’ang-his style (1662-1722), with lotus flowers and reeds growing in water, flying insects, and lightly sketched floral sprays. The front of the vase displays, in an interval left in the floral decoration, a quarterfoil medallion containing the sacred Christian monogram I.H.S, with a cross above, and three nails meeting in a point below. Page 26, Oriental ceramic art : illustrated by examples from the collection of W.T. Walters. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125015239219/page/n28/mode/1up
PLATE XV. CELADON BRUSH CYLINDER. (Pi T’ang), nine inches high, of tall, slender form, modeled in the shape of a section of bamboo, with a double ring worked in relief in the paste near the foot, between two lightly etched bands of scrolled design.  A Ch’ih-lung, the dragon of archaic bronzes, is represented in salient relief as coiled around the tube, with a scowling head and bristling mane, having flames proceeding from the shoulders and flanks. The cylinder is enameled with a celadon glaze of grayish-green tint, contrasting with the dragon, which is invested with a white enamel. The bottom is also celadon, leaving a wide encircling rim where the grayish biscuit is visible. Period K’ang-hsi (1662-1722). Page 36, Oriental ceramic art : illustrated by examples from the collection of W.T. Walters. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125015239219/page/n36/mode/1up

PLATE XVII. K’ANG-HSU VASE DECORATED IN COLORS. CLUB-SHAPED VASE (Pang-chih l’ing), 17 ½ inches high, decorated in brilliant enamel colors, with touches of gold, of the best period of the reign of K’ang-hsi (1662-1722). The decoration is arranged in two large oblong panels and four larger circular panels, displayed upon a ground of floral brocade. The scrolled coral-red ground is studded with chrysanthemum blossoms, alternately tinted apple-green and celadon. The large panel in front has a picture of a gaily plumaged bird perched upon a branch of blossoming prunus, penciled in brown, with red flowers touched with gold, mingled with sprays of bamboo having the leaves filled in with bright green and over-glaze blue. The disk of the rising sun is seen above, partly hidden by the clouds of down ting, indicated in pale coral-red. The corresponding panel at the back has a bird on a branch of hydrangea shrub, interwoven with sprays of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. The circular panels contain landscapes below, insects above, the Mantis religiosa, with millet and wild pinks in front, the grasshopper perched on grass, with trifid panicles and single chrysanthemums behind. The shoulder slope of the vase is decorated above with a band of scrolled chrysanthemum, with large red flowers and green leaves studding a purple ground, which is interrupted with four foliated medallions containing butterflies. The colors of the gadroon border around the foot, and of the diverse rings of conventional feet and diaper which encircle the upper part of the vase, are perfectly shown in the illustration. Page 50, Oriental ceramic art : illustrated by examples from the collection of W.T. Walters. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125015239219/page/n50/mode/1up
PLATE XIX. IRIDESCENT IRON-RUST VASE. (L-ing), egg-shaped, with a small round mouth and a circularly rimmed foot, enameled with a dark-brown monochrome glaze, thickly speckled with minute points of deep metallic lustrous aspect, and irregularly flocked all over with clouds of vermillion color, the lip being covered with a ring of the same red. It is a striking example of the t’ieh-hsiu, or “iron-rust glaze,” of naturalistic color and inimitable metallic luster. The foot is enameled underneath with a dark olive-brown monochrome glaze of “bubbly” appearance. There is no mark inscribed, although it is evidently an early Ch’ien-lung piece (1736-95).   Page 62, Oriental ceramic art : illustrated by examples from the collection of W.T. Walters. Collections of and digitalized by the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/gri_33125015239219/page/n62/mode/1up
 

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On a voyage to see how much mileage I can get from the creative ability and eye for images that my family thought was useless. On line art curator, fiction writer and now blogger. Historian's daughter. Follow me . . .even I have no idea where I'm going next.

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