Collection Spotlight: February, 2025

Blue and White Porcelain

On display in the museum’s Founders Room

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Chinese export porcelain has a long, storied past, and was part of the trade between East Asia and the West going back as far as the early Silk Road trade route. The Ming Dynasty (1364-1644) is considered the golden age for blue and white porcelain. In 1368, an imperial porcelain kiln was created in Jingdezhen, in the Jiangxi province in southern China, to produce porcelain ware for the imperial court. Though various colors might be featured on a piece, classic Ming porcelain was typically blue and white.

China initially relied on Persian cobalt sources, but this changed over time as trade connections with Southeast and Central Asia brought a broader range of options. The alternative cobalt reserves resulted in a varied palette of blues, from deep and intense, to softer hues.

When local sources of cobalt ore were discovered in China in the late Ming Dynasty, blue and white porcelain became more affordable and widespread, and use of the technique expanded to everyday wares. This led to Chinese porcelain being exported around the world.

The Jingdezhen factory later became the source of porcelain exports that were extremely popular in Europe, which later replicated some of the forms.

During the early period of export, the pieces were made heavy and less refined, in order to endure overseas travel. The weight of the piece can indicate that it is older. The decoration is typically applied by hand, originally brush painted, but later was stenciled or transfer painted. The fact that blue cobalt pigment can endure the high firing temperatures used in the creation of porcelain has contributed to its long-term durability.

The decoration is painted in cobalt directly onto the porcelain, before the glaze is applied. This method requires only one firing, as opposed to enamel decoration which is applied over the glaze and requires a second firing in the kiln. The blue and white technique revolutionized Chinese ceramics.

The fall of the Ming dynasty and onset of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) resulted in a long suspension in Chinese exports. Political unrest, which resulted in the destruction of the important Jingdezhen kilns in 1675, contributed greatly to this disruption in trade. The Dutch East India Company, determined to continue supplying the market, turned to Japan for porcelain manufacturing. In 1680, trade resumed, but Japan continued to contribute to the blue and white porcelain export market.

During the 19th century, China trade brought many exotic goods to the West, including blue and white porcelain. Before the advent of Western trade, Chinese porcelain was largely reserved for royalty. When trade opened, Chinese exports landed in America and England, but also the Netherlands, Portugal, France, and Persia via Dutch East India Company ships, along with tea, silks, paintings, and other luxury items.

The Art Complex Museum collection includes Chinese and Japanese-made ginger jars and temple vases that were likely purchased for decoration. The contrasting blue and white colors made them a trendy addition to home decor. Originally made to store ginger, an important medicinal spice in Chinese culture, the vases are decorated in spring cherry or plum blossoms (representing spring and new beginnings), chrysanthemums (royalty and longevity), figures, and animal motifs.

Other popular motifs include the dragon (representing the emperor), and the dragon and phoenix motif (which together represent the empress). Buddhist symbols of deer, peaches (representing immortality), pine (representing wisdom and long life), and other auspicious symbols of abundance and fertility, such as pomegranates and grapes were also used.

The now common marking, “Made in China,” was required by a United States Federal Law that all imports be marked with their country of origin after 1891. Because of this we know that many of the Chinese blue and white porcelain jars and vases in the Art Complex Museum collection were made before that date, as they do not have these markings.

According to family members, the jars and vases in the Art Complex Museum decorated the St. Paul, Minnesota home of Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Sanborn for many years.

Resources:

https://www.bonhams.com/stories/30496/

Iröns, Neville John. “Chinese Blue and White.” Irish Arts Review (1984-1987) 2, no. 3 (1985): 40–48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491799.

Le Corbeiller, Clare, and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen. “Chinese Export Porcelain.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 60, no. 3 (2003): 1–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/3269266.

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