China has one of the most extensive histories across the globe and in no other cultural tradition has nature played a more important role in the arts.[i] It is without a doubt that there is a mutual interdependence between man and nature. By using natural resources, Chinese people have prospered and shaped their lives and culture in many different ways throughout history. Vase, crafted around the turn of the eighteenth century (during the Qing dynasty), exemplifies how Chinese people practiced and developed the art of ceramics by working with nature.
Crafted by an unidentified Chinese artisan, this vase is made of porcelain and decorated with cobalt blue underglaze decoration featuring a landscape. The common forms of Chinese landscape are usually depicted on tall, vertical hanging scroll hung on the wall or a long horizontal hand scroll but Vase is painted on a cylinder without side boundaries. This permits the viewers to travel horizontally by walking around it, passing mountains, cliffs and flowing streams on a journey to see the relationship between the magnificent nature and the boatmen, horsemen, and other wanderers in the scene. There is a sense of animation delivered through the vivid scenes of peaceful interaction of man with nature. This circular image on the vase provides an infinite grasp of the landscapes in which scrolls lacks to offer. During the Qing dynasty, landscapes became more typical for this type of art.
The Qing dynasty was the last dynasty of China and spanned from 1644 to 1911. The Chinese ceramics changed over the periods of the seven dynasties (Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing) from materials used in construction such as bricks and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels and eventually to the sophisticated porcelain wares made for the imperial court.[ii] These traditional arts range from forms such as bowls, plates, decorations, buildings, and paintings revealed the religion, landscapes, history, and traditions of Chinese culture. The famous signature blue underglaze on white porcelain art, which originated during the Yuan dynasty but was developed and refined in the Ming and Qing dynasty, is one of the most beautiful and sophisticated wares in all of China’s ceramic history.[iii]
This type of art depicted on Vase was influenced by other countries. In fact, the cobalt pigment for blue color was imported from Persia and some of the designs were influenced by Islamic art. This signified a sign of the start for globalization. Usually exported mostly to Europe and the Middle East in the early eighteenth century, these wares were very ornamental and understandably popular in the western markets. Demands from the Ming/Qing court were enormous and the export trade exacted its toll of manpower and raw materials.[iv]
The method of using only shades of blue offers a sense of purity, cleanliness, and simplicity. The color blue symbolizes calmness, quietness, and peace. The techniques of line drawing, which is outline drawing of Chinese ink painting, provides more vivid images and scenes that offer a balanced and rich artistic effect. This combines the ideas of being open and subtle while real and imaginary, which can achieve the structured beauty with rhythms of the interaction between mankind and nature.[v]
All around Vase, viewers can find wanderers exploring, seeking tranquility in the mountains of these landscapes. These men are representatives of the trope in Chinese history of men who wandered into mountains to quest immortality and to find renewal.[vi] Moreover, mountains are important symbols in the religion of the Chinese people; Daoist and Buddhist holy men gravitated to sacred mountains to build meditation huts and establish temples. Mountains symbolize sacred power and manifestations of nature’s vital energy.[vii] Men journeying into the mountains to find peace illustrate the harmonizing relationship between man and nature that Vase represents.
In other vignettes, viewers can discern humans using lands and rivers for both domestic and global uses such as fishing, leisure, travelling, and exporting goods. However, these vignettes also hint at the real and imagined creatures of the earth such as horses, serpents, and dragons, which the Chinese people believed were endowed with special attributes.[viii] The presence of horses on this vase illustrates their important role in the history of China for war and transportation.
The creation of ceramic ware holds a special and vital place among the many arts and inventions that characterize Chinese culture, society, and civilization. It is no coincidence that English speakers or Western use the word China as a term for high quality porcelain, Chinese ceramic art under the Qing dynasty has had a lasting imprint on the art form. Significantly, Vase shows the essence of the complex interactions between men and nature in Chinese art and culture at this time and continuing to today.
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[i] Department of Asian Art, “Nature in Chinese Culture,” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cnat/hd_cnat.htm (October 2004)
[ii] Shelagh Vainker, Chinese pottery and porcelain (London, UK: The British Museum Press, 1991).
[iii] Suzanne G. Valensein, A handbook for Chinese ceramics (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1957), 151.
[iv] Suzanne G. Valensein, A handbook for Chinese ceramics (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1957), 151.
[v] Jianian Liang and Zhonggui Yang, “Art deco of blue-and-white porcelain,” Canadian Social Science 2(1) (2006); 34-37 retrieved from http://cscanada.net/index.php/css/article/viewFile/273/pdf_118
[vi] Department of Asian Art, “Nature in Chinese Culture,” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cnat/hd_cnat.htm (October 2004)
[vii] Department of Asian Art, “Nature in Chinese Culture,” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cnat/hd_cnat.htm (October 2004)
[viii] Department of Asian Art, “Nature in Chinese Culture,” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cnat/hd_cnat.htm (October 2004)