Thursday, December 29, 2016

Chromatic Intensity

Porcelain vase
rose enamel
Qing Dynasty (19th century)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

"Matthew, just back from a meeting of the Royal Ceramics Society, was arranging his collection. . . . He had bought two large mahogany display cases into which he was now putting some favorite pieces. He had removed two semicircular tables and fitted the cases into the alcoves in the the hall. It did not look too museum-like. The Sung and Ting dishes were all in a crowd on the drawing-room table. He had decided to make a selection of a number of favorites to keep with him and to lend the rest to the Fitzwilliam Museum for the present. The selection was proving very difficult. He stood holding a famille noire teapot tenderly by the spout. Of course Ming and Ting were greatest and Sung doubtless greatest of all, but for a weightless charm which was perfect without being sublime it was impossible to better Ching." 

– from An Accidental Man by Iris Murdoch (Chatto & Windus, 1971)

Porcelain bottle
iron-red enamel
Qing Dynasty (18th century)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Porcelain bowl
group of bats, iron-red enamel
Qing Dynasty (19th century)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Porcelain water-pot
copper-red glaze
Qing Dynasty (19th century)
Sir David Percival Collection, British Museum

Porcelain vase
iron-brown glaze
Northern Song Dynasty (1000-1127)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Porcelain bowl
inscribed and dated, coffee-colored glaze
Qing Dynasty (1672)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Porcelain cups
yellow glaze
Qing Dynasty (1723-1735)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Porcelain vase
pear-shape, apple-green enamel
Qing Dynasty (1662-1722)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Porcelain vase
pear-shape, turquoise glaze
Qing Dynasty (1662-1722)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Porcelain dish
turquoise glaze
Qing Dynasty (17th century)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Stoneware dish
blue and purple glaze
Ming Dynasty (1368-1398)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Stoneware bowl
sky-blue glaze, with purple
Yuan-Jin Dynasty (1115-1300)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Stoneware cup-holder
duck-egg blue glaze
Northern Song Dynasty (11th-12th century)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum

Stoneware model of an egg
white-ware, opaque white glaze
Republic (1912-1949)
Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum