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Vase with Poet Zhou Dunyi
Vase with Poet Zhou Dunyi
Year	1587
Medium	Ceramics
Movement	Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Wanli mark and period (1573-1620)
Dimensions	Height: 60.3 cm (); Rim: 19.4 cm Base: 20 cm cm diameter
Location	Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vase with Poet Zhou Dunyi

The Vase with the Poet Zhou Dunyi is a traditional Chinese Porcelain piece produced in 1587, during the Ming Dynasty. The Vase can be identified by its Wanly Mark and period qualities, constituting its cobalt blue paintings decorating the transparent glazed porcelain. The Vase is currently held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City Purchased via the credit line of the Rogers Fund within the Museum. The structure and shape of the vase in accompaniment to the complex iconography is notable as it is meant to encouraging the viewer to read and understanding the image presented and their value in Chinese literati culture.

Porcelain

The Vase with the Poet Zhou Dunyi is a product of the Jingdezhen Ware production of porcelain. Porcelain is a branch of ceramics characterised but the fine, light, strong, white translucent material. This porcelain consists of kaolin clay and petuntse, a feldespathic rock, which when fired at very high temperates between 1200-1400 degrees vitrifies the clay materials into porcelain. Until the 18th century these techniques were only achieved in China, Japan and Korea, accounting for its high value as a commodity when it was originally produced and first traded in between 5000-1700 BCE.

From the 6th century to the 8th century China was considered the most advanced producer of porcelain with hundreds of kiln complexes producing the wares for trade at local markets and for international export. From the 14th to 15th century production methods changed and China saw a significant decrease in the number of operating kiln complexes only to see a central location for the production to appear within the Junangxi complex, now known as the city of Jingdezhen. This city soon housed the largest kiln complex in the world and produced hundreds of thousands ceramics per year. The porcelain produced was used for religious practices, as embellishment objects, in addition to academic purposes including studying aesthetic value, leaning and erudition.

For the Vase with the Poet Zhou Dunyi and many other ceramics produced, the production was highly influenced by the cultural restoration that redefined and expanded the Ming Dynasty. The result of this was the painters of the Ming Court were required to create works in didactic and realistic style. The Blue and white porcelain which constituted these works of art was said to suggest a broader interest in other cultures specifically international networks of trade that reached from Asia to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Europe.

Characteristics

The surface of the Vase with the Poet Zhou Dunyi is painted with blue cobalt and divided into horizontal sections, with a geometric broader decorating the lip. The visuals on the neck of the vase illustrate decorative clouds with white cranes flying amongst them, layered above the dark blue background. The crane is interpreted as a symbol of longevity, due to its status as high ranking bird in the imperial hierarchy, with its white feathers representing its ability to live a long life. Whilst the stylised clouds suggested luck, fortune and good fate. Below this sit two small horizontal registers that seperate the neck and the shoulder of the vase. The first section is embellished with hatching and the one below with flowers, transiting to the shoulder of the vase which depicts the symbol of the Lingzhi Fungus design or Ruyi, translating to good wishes.

Coming to the body of the vase, the largest surface area depicts a celebration of the style and material culture of Chinese Literati. Literati culture was significant in the Ming Dynasty as images of the natural hierarchy became metaphors for China at that period of time. New class scholar officials depicted an increasing number of images of the private retreat, communicating the academic and social values of self cultivation and position as literati. This was done through poetry, calligraphy and visual arts, as seen in the Vase with the Poet Zhou Dunyi, effectively establishing their social position within Chinese academic society.

On one face of the Vase a figure, said to be Zhou Dunyi, a well renowned Chinese philosopher and official are portrayed sitting on a mat and supposedly gazing at a lotus pond. This is a common representation of the scholar as it is referencing his essay on the lotus flower, “On Love of the Lotus”. Accompanying this, four young attendants at the upper left of the scene seem to be brewing tea for the Scholar Zhou and his companion. A Large rock then separates these figures from an additional two, who can also be identified as scholars due to their clothing. An instrument called a zither sits before them, in addition to two attendants a man and a women standing nearby also holding instruments. The scholars are drinking wine and sitting in front of folding screens on a covered table, implying the performance of a musical piece.

The foreground presents a picnic scene of a basket, wine and multiple jars of gourd. A young lady with a fan standing close by, effectively transiting the musical performance scene around the vase to another setting of four gentlemen in a peaceful environment sitting around a low table drinking wine. Below this another visual register occurs separating a landscape of roaming cranes and a deer resting on the foot of the jar, suggesting a sense of hope and longevity.

Use

The hight of the vase is 60.3 cm, with a rim diameter of 32.3cm and base of 20cm. With these large dimensions this vase is was highly likely to be commissioned, its large scale would have facilitated the use of the vase for formal or public display as opposed to personal use. The Metropolitan Museum (n.d.) confirmed this through the analysis of the cobalt blue letters in the sunken panel on the bottom of the vase.

Additionally the vase carries two lines on each side, marking characters that read “Wanli Ding mo nain zao”, and four characters in the middle of the vase “qian fu ying yong” refereeing an auxiliary palace for intended display. Despite this, a breakage in the porcelain above the image of the four scholars suggested a crumble during the firing process accounting for why the vase never reached the Palace in the South West. Instead the vase was said to be bought by a less demanding owner before ending up in the Metropolitan Museum in the 1920s.