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Gallery Text

In the fourteenth century, potters at Jingdezhen mastered the technique of decorating porcelains with cobalt blue pigment under a colorless glaze, producing a refined ceramic ware that is revered for its beauty and fine potting. Chinese sophisticates of the day, however, steeped in the earlier Song dynasty (960–1279) taste for subtly hued monochromes, tended to disdain blue-and-white wares, relegating them to the low-status export market. Both the large size of this charger and its short, unintelligible inscription in Arabic script (tucked amid the molded floral decoration at the two o’clock position) suggest that this vessel was made for sale abroad. The designs on fourteenth-century blue-and-white wares were typically drawn from illustrations in contemporaneous woodblock-printed books. This charger’s central medallion features a peacock; he is positioned in a Chinese garden, with a standing screen (its corner is visible at the upper right) and other garden elements such as the rock, bamboo, and flowers.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1961.112
Title
Charger with Foliate Rim and Peacock Decoration
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
mid-14th century
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen
Period
Yuan dynasty, 1279-1368
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/202388

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Blue-and-white ware: porcelain with molded decoration and underglaze cobalt blue
Technique
Blue-and-white ware
Dimensions
overall (max.): H. 8 × Diam. (across points) 48.9 cm (3 1/8 × 19 1/4 in.)
footring: Diam. 25.2 cm (9 15/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nicholas Marshall Cummins (by 1891–1904), by inheritance; to Martina Josephine Cummins (1904–1945), by inheritance; to Philip Cummins (1945–after 1955), sold; to Richard Bryant Hobart, Cambridge, MA (after 1955–1961), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1961.

Notes:
1. Collector Nicholas Marshall Cummins (1834/5–1904), an Irish engineer employed by the British East Indian Railway Co. who retired to Magog, Quebec, Canada in 1891.
2. Martina Josephine Cummins (d. 1945), wife of Nicholas Marshall Cummins
3. Philip Cummins (1884–1986), son of Nicholas Marshall Cummins
4. Richard Bryant Hobart (1885–1963), Harvard College Class of 1906

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Richard B. Hobart
Accession Year
1961
Object Number
1961.112
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • John Ayers, "Early Chinese Blue and White in the Museum of Eastern Art, Oxford", Oriental Art (1951), vol. III, no. 4, pp. 135-141, p. 141, fig. 11
  • John Ayers, "Some Characteristic Wares of the Yüan Dynasty", Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society (1954 -1955), vol. XXIX, pl. 43, fig. 37
  • Fujioka Ryōichi, Gen Minsho no sometsuke, Heibonsha Limited (Tokyo, 1960), p. 5, fig. 9
  • Basil Gray, "Persian Influence on Chinese Art from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Centuries", Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, British Institute of Persian Studies (London, 1963), Vol. I, pp. 13-18, p. 16, illustrated Pl. IIIb (n.p.)
  • Sherman E. Lee and Wai-kam Ho, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH, 1968), cat. no. 150
  • Ceramic Art of China, exh. cat., Oriental Ceramics Society (London, England, 1971), p. 103, no. 141; illus. Pl. 98
  • Yabe Yoshiaki, Gen no sometsuke, Heibonsha Limited (Tokyo, 1974), p. 92, fig. 26
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 40, p. 41
  • Lorne C. MacPherson, Damn Tight Place(s) (with Apologies to Rudyard Kipling): The Life and Times of Nicholas Marshall Cummins, MacPherson Lumber Inc. (Magog, Quebec, 1993), p. 118, illustrated p. 126 (upper right)
  • Victor Mair, Paul Goldin, and Nancy Steinhardt, ed., Hawai'i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture, University of Hawaii Press (Honolulu, Hawaii, 2005), color plate no. 96

Exhibition History

  • Chinese Art Under the Mongols, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 10/01/1968 - 11/24/1968
  • Transformations: Asia East and West, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/19/1992 - 02/14/1993
  • Rocks, Mountains, Landscapes, and Gardens: The Essence of East Asian Painting (1997), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/15/1997 - 09/21/1997
  • Rocks, Mountains, Landscapes and Gardens: The Essence of East Asian Painting ('04), Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 01/31/2004 - 08/01/2004
  • Cultivating Virtue: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/08/2006 - 04/08/2007
  • Downtime, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/28/2007 - 04/20/2008
  • 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 11/22/2021; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/04/2023 - 12/04/2023

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights
  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu