A Large Rare Jiajing Mark and Period Blue and White Imperial Porcelain Dish

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Jiajing Imperial Blue and White Porcelain

During the Jiajing period (1522-1566) a large variety of imperial ceramics were produced, they varied from small delicate wine cups to massive fish bowls and dishes. These Ming Jiajing dishes could be as much as 80 cm across, for example a very rare unmarked yellow ground blue and white porcelain dish with a five claw dragon, from the Percival David collection, now in the British Museum : (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_PDF-731). It was an extraordinary achievement to make such a monumental dish at that time, in her description on the British Museum website, Jessica Harrison-Hall describes the dish as "gigantic", it certainly is. It is highly unusual, not just because of its size, but also that it doesn't have a six-character Jiajing mark, despite the imperial dragon and imperial yellow ground. The kilns had to work out how to pot and fire some of the heaviest porcelain objects that had ever been produced. The fish bowls were vast and incredibly heavy, because they were so thickly potted many had firing cracks due to uneven structural stresses and strains. Presumably, there was a high and costly failure rate when producing such ambitious objects. The court increased production and decided to outsource some imperial pieces to other kilns, which had to adhere to the demands put on them by imperial officials. These semi-independent Jiajing kilns had access to high quality materials, such as imported cobalt, but they were forced to pay a high price for it. Good quality cobalt was in high demand, the best sources and therefore most expensive, came from outside China. So, during the Jiajing period (1522-1566) imported cobalt was often mixed with cheaper indigenous supplies of this hard lustrous bluish grey metal. When you paint unglazed biscuit fired porcelain with cobalt it appears as a dull greyish black, miraculously turning blue after glazing and firing. It is referred to as underglaze blue, but I don't think that is really accurate, during firing the blue rises up into the glaze, staining it. In cross-section you can see the blue in the glaze. It is that depth of colour through the glaze that gives blue and white porcelain its unmistakable look. In the firing, if the cobalt is applied to thickly, there can be areas where the cobalt brakes out of the glaze. It sits on the glaze surface and becomes black once more, due to contact with the kiln atmosphere. The present dish has a good colour and is likely to have been painted with a high concentration of imported cobalt. The kilns had to work out how to pot and fire some of the heaviest porcelain objects ever produced. Many other Jiajing porcelain objects also had firing faults; it seems that absolute perfection wasn't essential. A large number of porcelain objects were ordered for the emperor, for the court and palaces. There were also many imperial porcelain orders for tribute pieces, an important part of Chinese diplomacy were the gifts to foreign rulers and dignitaries. Not just porcelain, but a vast array of objects and living things were deemed to be valuable gifts, to forge new alliances, or shore up fragile existing ones. This was perhaps especially important in China, where invasion was a never-ending worry, despite walls, armies and alliances.

Jiajing 1522-1566.

Ming Emperor of China. 

Jiajing lived from the 16th of September 1507 to the 23rd of January 1567. His father was the Zhengde Emperor (1505 - 1521). From the beginning of Jiajing's reign, he was infatuated with young women and Taoist pursuits. He was known to be a cruel and self-aggrandizing emperor, and he also chose to reside outside of the Forbidden city in Beijing, like his father Zhengde Emperor, he made the decision to reside outside the Forbidden City. In 1542, he relocated to the West Park located in the middle of Beijing, west of the Forbidden City. So,he could live in isolation while ignoring state affairs. Jiajing employed incapable individuals such as Zhang Cong and Yan Gao, on whom he thoroughly relied on to handle affairs of state. He abandoned the practice of seeing his ministers altogether from 1539 onwards and for a period of almost 25 years refused to give official audiences, choosing instead to relay his wishes through eunuchs and officials. This eventually led to corruption at all levels of the Ming government. Jiajing's ruthlessness also led to an internal plot by his concubines to assassinate him in 1542 by strangling him while he slept. The plot was ultimately foiled, and all of the concubines involved were summarily executed. During the Jiajing reign, Chinese peasants began to expand their agricultural crops to include species native to Central and South America. In the 1530s, groundnuts cultivation was documented in Jiangnan, having spread there from Fujian Province. It is believed that Fujian peasants acquired it from Portuguese sailors. The Portuguese ordered porcelain from China at this period.

Portrait of Jiajing (lived from 16th of  September 1507 to 23rd of January 1567).

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

Jiajing Porcelain From Robert McPherson Antiques

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