Vase

The combination of baby boys and vegetation in the form of long lotus vines is a pictorial pun, similar to the word play seen in the small Chinese jade magpie carvings in this gallery. It expresses a wish for a family to continue over many generations—in China, that meant the need to have healthy male offspring. The enormous size and elaborate patterns of this vase suggest that it might have been a special wedding gift.

Stoneware with underglaze black decoration on white slip

35 x 10 1/2 in. (88.9 x 26.7cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

48.34

Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition History"Freedom of Clay and Brush Through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D." Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Ind. (11/17/80-01/18/81), China House Gallery, N.Y.C., (03/16/81-05/14/81), Denver Art Museum, Denver, Col. (06/81-07/81)

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Glaze, Pattern and Image: Decoration in Chinese Ceramics, Sept. 7 - Nov. 19, 2002.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective, Dec. 22, 2007 - July 26, 2009.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.

Published ReferencesMedley, Margaret. "Yuan Porcelain and Stoneware," Pitman Publ. 1974, pl. 97

Mino, Yutaka, "Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D.," IMA/IU Press, 1980, p. 179, pl. 77

Laing, Ellen Johnston. "Chin 'Tartar' Dynasty (1115-1234) Material Culture," in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 49, No. 1/2 (1988-1989), pp. 73-126; p. 112, fig. 53

Ikutarou ITO, et al., "The Sun Special: Introduction to Chinese Fired Wares", February 2009, Heibonsha Limited Publishers, pg. 106, text in Japanese

Waugh, Daniel C. "The Arts of China in Seattle." The Silk Road, vol. 12 (2014): pp. 137-152, reproduced p. 142, fig. 17.

Foong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): p. 63, reproduced fig. 24.

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