Public-domain ebook
Chinese pottery and porcelain; vol. 2. Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain
by R. L. Hobson
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #68762.
About this book
The volume is a scholarly catalogue of Chinese Ming and Qing porcelain, compiled by Robert L. Hobson, a British Museum assistant in antiquities. It opens with a richly detailed description of a K’ang Hsi‑period covered jar, noting its eight petal panels, coloured enamels on the biscuit, and unglazed base, before launching into a systematic survey of dynastic periods, technical essays, and illustrated plates. The contents list reveals a methodical structure: chapters on each reign, sections on production techniques, and extensive visual documentation of individual pieces from museum collections worldwide. The text interleaves concise historical narrative with meticulous object‑by‑object commentary, grounding every observation in museum provenance and period markings.
Hobson’s voice is that of an early‑20th‑century museum scholar, precise, formal, and heavily illustrated. The prose reflects the academic style of 1915, prioritising factual description over literary flourish. Readers with a serious interest in Chinese art history, collectors of Asian ceramics, or students of museum studies will find the work’s exhaustive cataloguing, technical insights, and abundant photographs especially rewarding.
The opening · free to read
63. Baluster Vase
With designs in raised outline, filled in with coloured glazes on the biscuit; dark violet blue background. About 1500. Grandidier Collection (Louvre).
64. FIFTEENTH CENTURY POLYCHROME PORCELAIN
Fig. 1.--Vase with grey crackle and peony scrolls in blue and enamels. Ch’êng Hua mark. British Museum.
Fig. 2.--Vase with turquoise ground and bands of floral pattern and winged dragons incised in outline and coloured green, yellow and aubergine. S. E. Kennedy Collection.
Fig. 3.--Box with bands of ju-i clouds and pierced floral scrolls; turquoise and yellow glazes in dark blue ground. Grandidier Collection.
65. MING san ts’ai PORCELAIN
Fig. 1.--Vase with winged dragons, san ts’ai glazes on the biscuit, dark blue ground. Dedicatory inscription on the neck, including the words “Ming Dynasty.” Cloisonné handles. S. E. Kennedy Collection.
Fig. 2.--Figure of Kuan-yin, turquoise, green and aubergine glazes, dark blue rockwork. Fifteenth century. Grandidier Collection.
Fig. 3.--Vase with lotus scrolls, transparent glazes in three colours. Late Ming. Grandidier Collection.
66. Porcelain with Chêng Tê Mark
Fig. 1.--Slop bowl with full-face dragons holding shou characters, in underglaze blue in a yellow enamel ground. British Museum.
Fig. 2.--Vase with engraved cloud designs in transparent coloured glazes on the biscuit, green ground. Charteris Collection.
67. BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN. Sixteenth Century
Fig. 1.--Bowl with Hsüan Tê mark. Dresden Collection.
Fig. 2.--Covered bowl with fish design. Dresden Collection.
Fig. 3.--Bottle, peasant on ox. Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 4.--Bottle with lotus scrolls in mottled blue. Alexander Collection.
68. BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN. Sixteenth Century
Fig. 1.--Perfume vase, lions and balls of brocade. V. and A. Museum.
Fig. 2.--Double gourd vase, square in the lower part. Eight Immortals paying court to the God of Longevity, panels of children (wa wa). Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 3.--Bottle with medallions of ch’i-lin and incised fret pattern between. Late Ming. Halsey Collection.
Fig. 2.--Covered jar, painted in dark underglaze blue with red, green and yellow enamels; fishes and water plants. Chia Ching mark. S. E. Kennedy Collection.
70. Porcelain with Chia Ching Mark
Fig. 1.--Box with incised Imperial dragons and lotus scrolls; turquoise and dark violet glazes on the biscuit. V. and A. Museum.
Fig. 2.--Vase with Imperial dragons in clouds, painted in yellow in an iron red ground. Cologne Museum.
71. Sixteenth Century Porcelain
Figs. 1 and 2.--Two ewers in the Dresden Collection, with transparent green, aubergine and turquoise glazes on the biscuit, traces of gilding. In form of a phœnix, and of a crayfish.
Fig. 3.--Bowl with flight of storks in a lotus scroll, enamels on the biscuit, green, aubergine and white in a yellow ground. Chia Ching mark. Alexander Collection.
72. VASE WITH IMPERIAL FIVE-CLAWED DRAGONS IN CLOUD SCROLLS OVER SEA WAVES (Colour) 46
Band of lotus scrolls on the shoulder. Painted in dark Mohammedan blue. Mark on the neck, of the Chia Ching period (1522–1566) in six characters. V. & A. Museum.
73. TWO BOWLS WITH THE CHIA CHING MARK (1522–1566), WITH DESIGNS OUTLINED IN BROWN AND WASHED IN WITH COLOURS IN MONOCHROME GROUNDS (Colour) 50
Fig. 1.--With peach sprays in a yellow ground. Alexander Collection.
Fig. 2.--With phœnixes (feng-huang) flying among scrolls of mu-tan peony. Cumberbatch Collection.
74. TWO BOWLS WITH GILT DESIGNS ON A MONOCHROME GROUND. PROBABLY CHIA CHING PERIOD (1522–1566) (Colour) 54
Fig. 1.--With lotus scroll with etched details on a ground of iron red (fan hung) outside. Inside is figure of a man holding a branch of cassia, a symbol of literary success, painted in underglaze blue. Mark in blue, tan kuei (red cassia).
Fig. 2.--With similar design on ground of emerald green enamel. Mark in blue in the form of a coin or cash with the characters ch’ang ming fu kuei (“long life, riches and honours”).
Fig. 2.--Blue and white Bowl, Chia Ching period. Mark, Wan ku ch’ang ch’un (“a myriad antiquities and enduring spring”). Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin.
Fig. 3.--Ewer with white slip ch’i-lin on a blue ground. Wan Li period. Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 4.--Gourd-shaped Vase with winged dragons and fairy flowers, raised outlines and coloured glazes on the biscuit. Sixteenth century. Salting Collection.
76. BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN. Sixteenth Century
Fig. 1.--Vase with monster handles, archaic dragons. Halsey Collection.
Fig. 2.--Hexagonal Bottle, white in blue designs. Mark, a hare. Alexander Collection.
Fig. 3.--Bottle with “garlic mouth,” stork and lotus scrolls, white in blue. Salting Collection.
Fig. 4.--Vase (mei p’ing), Imperial dragon and scrolls. Wan Li mark on the shoulder. Coltart Collection.
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