Further images
Of round and slightly waisted form with a gently flaring rim and moulded, rounded and slightly everted short foot, decorated in shades of underglaze blue with a continuous narrative scene from the ‘Romance of the Western Chamber’ set in a tree-lined and rocky landscape and depicting a male figure, Zhang Junrui, riding a horse, a small whip in his hand, together with his attendant following him and carrying his belongings, the foot circled with blue lines, the base glazed and decorated with double concentric blue lines, attached to the base two paper stickers, one with the crests of ‘City of Manchester Art Gallery’.
Provenance
From the collection of a Devon reverend inherited from his grandfather who was a missionary in China during the late 19th Century
Literature
The scene is taken from the famous 13th Century classic Chinese love story ‘The Romance of the Western Chamber’. Set during the Tang dynasty it tells the story of the secret love affair between Zhang Junrui, a young impoverished scholar, and Cui Yingying. In this scene, the first scene from Book 1, student Zhang is travelling on horseback to the capital to sit his examinations. His servant is walking and carries his master’s belongings, including a pile of books on a pole on his shoulder. Zhang wears a scholar’s black cap to distinguish him. The iconography of this scene rendered on the porcelain follows a known woodblock print from the 1468 edition of the Xixiangji.
The Groninger Museum, Groningen, has a large famille verte bowl and matching saucer telling the story of the Western Chamber in 24 panels, one panel painted with the same scene as on our vase. The story as well as the bowl and saucer are discussed and illustrated by Christiaan J.A. Jörg, in ‘Famille Verte – Chinese Porcelain in Green Enamels’, Groninger Museum, 2011, pl. 94, pp. 93-101.
