Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1

Object 2010C284

Dish

Dutch (Delft)

1670-1690

Height 45 mm (1.77 inch), diameter of rim 255 mm (10.04 inch), diameter of base 107 mm (4.21 inch), weight 501 grams (17.67 ounce (oz.))

Earthenware dish on footring, flat rim. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze with a standing Chinese figure holding a sword upright, while gesturing with his left hand. In front of him two kneeling figures, apparently with their hands tied behind their back. In the background a fence with a tree and rocks to the left and a Chinese pavilion to the right. In the foreground left a figure behind a fence and in the middle a rock with flowers. On the sides stylized flowers and scrolls. On the rim standing and seated figures in a landscape alternating with rocks with flowers. On the reverse panels diverted by blue lines, alternately filled with loosely painted stars and target like circles. On the base two loosely painted shop or potter's marks. The footring has been pierced.

Until about 1640 there was a regular supply of porcelain from China mainly consisting of kraak and Transitional objects. The decorative motifs were taken from woodblocks prints illustrating Chinese plays, histories, novels and dramas. For the Dutch buyers the story behind these decorations was often irrelevant and unknown. It was the oriental and exotic character of the decoration that was interesting. During the 1640s imports into the Netherlands declined steadily until a genuine shortage became discernible around 1650. The faience industry in Delft reacted remarkably quickly to the changing situation. It was precisely faience, a refined product that imitated Chinese porcelain in appearance but not in decoration, that was now easily able to dominate the market formerly supplied with Chinese porcelain, as long as the decorations were also in Chinese-style. The Chinese-style motifs on faience naturally stemmed directly from the examples that were known at the time, namely kraak and transitional porcelain.

The central scene on this Delft dish, which almost looks like an execution, is most unusual and seems unrecorded in literature so far. In this case it is quite possibly after a Chinese theatrical scene, originally either on porcelain or perhaps even directly after a Chinese woodblock print.

The two kneeling figures together provide an interesting clue about the Chinese story that might be shown. [I am greatly indebted to mr. Simon Fan, Australia for providing me with this information]

In front of the Yue Fei temple in Hangzou city, not far from Shanghai, there are two famous iron statues of a seated man and woman, depicting a Chancellor of the Song dynasty, Qin Hui (1090-1155, 秦桧), and his wife Lady Wang (秦王氏). Two other iron statues situated not far from Qin Hui and his wife show two men kneeling. They are the aids of Qin Hui, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun.

qin-hui-kneeling

Iron statues of Lady Wang and her traitorous husband Chancellor Qin Hui, Yue Fei Temple, West Lake, Hangzhou, China.

Yue_Fei_temple_subordinatesQinHui

Iron statues of Qin Hui’s subordinates, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun, Yue Fei Temple, West Lake, Hangzhou, China.

Chancellor Qin removed all his political opponents from the government by use of his control over the Imperial Censorate. Most of his enemies were exiled far to the south, several in fact died on Hainan Island. He believed that the schools should only teach "acceptable ideas" and practiced a strong form of censorship and thought control over the Imperial university.

Qin Hui is widely regarded as a traitor for his part in the persecution and execution of the Chinese hero Yue Fei “岳飛”, a general who fought for the Song against the Jin Dynasty.

YF_statue

Statue of general Yue Fei, Yue Fei Temple, West Lake, Hangzhou, China.

The Story of Yue Fei states that after having Yue Fei arrested under false charges, Qin Hui and his wife, Lady Wang were sitting by the "eastern window", warming themselves by the fire, when he received a letter from the people calling for the release of the general. Qin was worried because after nearly two months of torture, he could not get the noble Yue Fei to admit the false charges of treason and he would eventually have to let him go. However, after a servant girl brought fresh oranges into the room, Lady Wang devised a plan to execute the general. She told Qin to slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the examining judge. This way, the general and his companions would be put to death before the Emperor or Qin himself would have to rescind an open order of execution. This conspiracy became known as the “East-Window Plot”.

After Qin Hui’s death and the resignation of the old emperor, the new Emperor Xiaozong of Song pardoned most of Qin's political enemies. He restored Yue Fei’s honours and pardoned him posthumously. The emperor gave proper burial to his remains. A large tomb was put up in his memory, and he was designated Zhongwu (忠武; "Loyal and Martial"). Widely seen as a patriot and national folk hero, Yue Fei has evolved into a standard epitome of loyalty in Chinese culture.

For their part in Yue Fei's death, bronze statues of Qin Hui, Lady Wang, and two of Qin Hui's subordinates, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun, were made to kneel in disgrace before Yue Fei’s tomb, thus being dealt the punishment they never received in life. From that point on, Qin Hui was constantly vilified by Chinese historians. He became one of the most important examples in Chinese history of an evil minister. The pair serve as embodiments of the kind of administrative selfishness and corruption that is forever tearing China apart, quite the opposite of the loyal Yue Fei.

The original castings in bronze were damaged and later replaced by images cast in iron.

For centuries these iron statues have been cursed, spat and urinated upon by young and old. There is a poem hanging on the gate surrounding the statues, it reads:

"The green hill is fortunate to be the burial ground of a loyal general; the white iron was innocent to be cast into the statues of traitors."

Every morning, so it’s said, the despicable pair are fried in effigy millions upon millions of times, as street vendors make youtiao (油条) also called Chinese doughnuts or fried bread sticks. The literal meaning in Cantonese, yàuhjagwái (油炸鬼) is “oil-fried ghost or devil” . It is said that the snack, originally in the shape of two human-shaped pieces of dough but later evolved into two pieces joined in the middle, represents Qin Hui and his wife. Revenge has never been sweeter…

youtiao-14

Youtiao

For similarly decorated Dutch (Delft) dishes, especially with the same border design, please see:

For a similarly decorated Chinese Transitional dish, c.1630-40, please see:

La maladie de porcelaine..., East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of August the Strong, (E. Ströber, Edition Leipzig, Berlin, 2001), pp.24-25, cat. 5.

Condition: Some chipped of glaze flakes to the rim, most of the glaze of the edge has worn of. Two short glaze hairlines to the rim.

References:

Lunsingh Scheurleer 1975, cat. 72 & cat. 82

Scholten & Jörg 1990, cat. 20

Scholten 1993, cat. 116, 117 & 118

Ströber 2001, cat. 5

Jörg 2011/1, pp.51-53, cat. 115

Price: € 799 Currency Converter