Pair of Mounted Blue Jars. Porcelain, China , (1736-45). Gilded bronze mounts, France, (1745-49).
This elegant piece of object stands out with a beautiful anthropomorphic figure of a human being. That is having the head to be the top connected to a thick neck at the first half followed by the shoulders which are the edges of the jars protruding out then the body and legs at the bottom. The edges of the jars seem to be very smooth curvatures that enhances the elegant shape of this jar.
Furthermore, if one were to look from afar, both jars have striking colors of deep blue and bronze. Both colors seem to represent wealth and people of higher class because these jars were made during the Qianlong reign. During this period, the Qianlong Emperor expanded trade to more countries including Europe and Mongolia. As a result, the colors appear to be different as compared to previous blue and white Chinese porcelain we always see from China. The blue is much darker and there is a new addition of rich bronze color that adds brightness and contrast to the whole jar.
Moreover, the jars also have animal motifs including the dragons which were probably cast by the Europeans in Paris during the Louis XV reign. Louis XV, a prince in France who became the owner of the Vincennes factory in France that produces soft paste porcelain body in France during 1759. As a result, this bronze mount was named under Prince Louis XV to indicate ownership. As for the dragon, this animal motif chosen as a dragon shows great sophistication for Chinese porcelain that European could have had as they were inspired by Chinese porcelain.
Bibliography
Jeffrey Munger, “French Porcelain in the Eighteenth Century” , October 2003. Accessed 20th October 2018.
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/porf/hd_porf.htm
Asians Civilizations Museum, “Pair of Mounted Blue Jars”. Accessed 20th October 2018/
https://discover.acm.stqry.com/v/pair-of-mounted-blue-jars/s/ac1131f1-1747-45cd-8725-62f16b9b80d1
So, there are two stages of production for these objects! I’m a little confused as to how these jars compare to an anthropomorphic figure of a human being… So, was the Qianlong emperor fond of this color? Is it associated with him? Can we find similar objects in his collections? Are you suggesting through your last sentence that the bronze add on shows that these jars were greatly valued by Europeans and therefore they enhanced them with these bronze mounts? What can we say about the underglaze scenery?
Please provide the correct citation for the first source? We need to have 4 varied sources.
These are fantastic jars because of the dragons and the hidden scenery, but are they considered blue & white?