ByZHANGKUN in Shanghai
[email protected]
A
nongoing exhibi-
tionatthe Shanghai
HistoryMuseum has
broughttogether
porcelain artfrom
twocapitalsofthe industry: Jing-
dezhen inChina’s Jiangxiprovince
and Meissen in Germany.
WhiteGold:EastandWestPorce-
lainCapital kickedoffatthe Shang-
haimuseumonJuly26.Onthesame
day,ashowcaseofwhiteporcelain
fro mDehuainFujianprovince
opened. Bothexhibitions are run-
ning simultaneouslyuntil Nov 3.
Theywillthentourtoseveralother
Chinese cities, including Dalian in
Liaoningprovince and Guangzhou
in Guangdongprovince.
The White Gold exhibitionpres-
entsfineobjectsfrom Jingdezhen,
whichweretailor-madeforthe
overseasmarket,alongsideceramics
fromJapan and Meissen.Altogether
136 objects areon display,sourced
fromthe collectionsofsixmuseums
fromaroundChina and abroad.
The earliestevidenceofpeople
making ceramicswas found inthe
ruinsofthe Shang Dynasty (c.16th
centur ty- 11 hcenturyBC)inChina,
said HuJiang, directorofthe Shang-
hai HistoryMuseum.
In 100 4,EmperorZhenzongofthe
Song Dynasty( 960 - 1279 )namedthe
townJingde—afterthe moniker
giventothe eraof his reign — in rec-
ognitionofthetown’s achievements
intheproduction high-qof uality
porcelain.
Sincethen, “fires haveburned in
the kilnsof Jingdezhen formore
than 1 ,000 years,which builtits
reputationastheworld’s capitalof
porcelain”, Husaid.
Porcelain fromJingdezhenwas
exportedvia Guangzhou,the largest
tradingportinChina for centuries.
PorcelainfromChina, andthen
Japan, becamevery popular in
the royal courtsofEurope.August
der Starke(1670-1733),the kingof
Poland and electorofSaxonyin Ger-
many,was a big fanofChinesepor-
celain.Under his instruction, alche-
mistJohann FriedrichBottger deci-
pheredthe secrettomanufacturing
porcelain and establishedthefirst
porcelainproductionline in Meis-
sen, atowntothe northof Dresden,
in1710.Meissen soon becamethe
European homeofporcelain.
DanielaAntonin, headofthe Het-
jens-German MuseumofCeramics
in Dusseldorf, broughtmorethan100 objectsfromthe museum’s col-
lection, aswell as fro mtheMeissen
Porzellan-Museum,toShanghai.
Participating inthe exhibitionin
Shanghai “allowedustolearn about
porcelain fromChina and Japan,
andtheir impacton Germanporce-
lain art”,Antonin said.
China begantoexportporcelain
bysea inthe sixth century.Inthe
17thcentury,exportsfellduetopolit-
icalturmoil.Throughthe centuries,thetechniquesofporcelain making
expandedto the Korean Peninsula
and Japan, and inthe17th century,
ImariporcelainfromJapanwassold
to the West, accordingtoDegawa
Tetsuro, directorofthe Museumof
OrientalCeramics Osaka in Japan.
Degawa has suppliedthe exhibi-
tionwithfineexamplesofImaripor-
celainfromthemuseum’s collection.
Forabout 100 years, Japan-
made ceramicswere shipped fromtheportof ImaritoEuropebythe
Dutch EastIndiaCompany.Itwas a
periodwhenporcelainfromtheEast
enjoyed great popularityin Europe,
and Imari ceramics became aswell-
kn ownasthose from Jingdezhen in
China.
Degawasaidtheexhibitionhaspro-
videdarareopportunitytoappreciate
porcelain fromseveraloftheworld’s
mostimportantmanufacturing cen-
ters.He notedthatone highlightof
the exhibitionisthe interactive dis-
plays, allowingvisitorstotouchthe
screen, manipulatethe image and
observetheobjectsinmore detail.
Theparallel exhibitionof Dehua
porcelain features 41objectsdating
fromthe 14 thtoearly20thcenturies
and is curated fromthe collectionof
the Fujian Museum.
“Meissen is especiallyfamousfor
itsfine sculpturesofwhiteporce-
lain,” Husaid.“InChina, Dehuain
Fujianprovince has been making
fineobjects,sculpturesandproducts
fromwhiteporcelain forcenturies.
Sowe decidedto presentthem in
aparallel exhibitiontosparkupa
dialoguebetweentheEastandWest,
and enablevisitorstoseethediffer-
entinterpretationsofwhiteporce-
lain across differentcultures.”
AccordingtoWuZhiyue, director
ofthe Fujian Museum, Dehuadevel-
oped fine craftsmanshipinwhite
porcelain,where differentshadesof
white glaze emerged, and richpat-
terns and sculpturesw madeere out
of ceramics.
Youcanfind examplesof Dehua
ceramics in majormuseums allover
theworld, such astheBritish Muse-
um andthe Metropolitan Museum
inthe United States, he said.Amulticolored
dishmadeinImari
inthe18thcentury,
fromthecollectionof
theMuseumofOriental
CeramicsOsaka,Japan.Fromleft: ABuddhastatue
madeinDehuaintheMing
Dynasty(1368-1644);Ablue-
and-whiteplumvasemade
inJingdezhenintheMing
Dynasty;Ateapotandteacup
withsnowballblossomsfrom
thecollectionoftheMeissen
Porzellan-Museum,Germany;
Oneofa 2 1-piecesetofmonkey
orchestrafigurinesmadein
Meisseninthe197 0 s.
PHOTOSPROVIDEDTOCHINADAILYExhibitionsexplorewhattheascendancyofChinese
porcelainmeantforAsia,Europeceramics
Theinfluenceof
ancient China
CHINADAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August9-15, 2019 LIFE 29