So my group (Ziyu, Chenyue, Fern and I) have chosen this particular ceramic as our main object.
This is a Chinese ceramic that was produced in the JingDeZhen kilns during the Qing dynasty, and was probably made for people higher up the social ladder such as emperors.
After researching, we found 4 main characteristics about this ceramic that we can come up with concepts for.
- Christian influences on the development of this ceramic, mainly on the technological side
- That it was catered to emperors in the Qing dynasty
- Western-influenced designs such as the slight pink enamel
- That it was later imitated by European countries
However we are unsure if these are suitable for this project and if suitable, how to come up with a thesis for it.
To add on for the post:
We found that Jingdezhen kilns supplied local and oversea ceramics(Asia & Europe). They learnt about the culture and customs from those regions and customized their design of the pattern on the ceramics to further meet their needs. This dish we selected was carefully designed to meet the taste of the emperor/royalty with various Chinese flower & bird elements and meanings behind them. One of our possible plan is to research on how Jingdezhen catered to needs for people from different cultures and perhaps created a visual respond to a public figure.
Response to Andrew’s post: this looks like an interesting object.
*Why this object and not something else?
*You have made 4 interesting observations about this object. Perhaps these are the reasons why you chose it? It encompasses so many complexities?
*As I mentioned to Fern yesterday, I am not sure what is Christian about this ceramic. Please specify what the Western influence is. What tells us that it was catered to the Qing emperor? What are some Western “imitations?”
Out of these four observations, which one do you want to focus on? We don’t have time to do all four.
Response to Chenyue:
*your plan sounds great but it is too grand. So, choose between catering to the emperor or catering for the export market?
*How have other artists responded to Chinese ceramics? What is your case study? Or, how have other artists responded to the point you are trying to make?
Your team needs to make a category:
To keep track of how the project evolves
to keep my comments in one place
so that all team members see my comments
to keep all team members conversations between themselves and me in the same place