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Brown-Stonewares-of-the-Vixing-Kilns 12

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Dean Seeman
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  • Yixing teapots in pewter with engraved designs on the exterior (No. x. top middle). By the second half of the nineteenth century, the quality of Yixing ware declined rather significantly. This was partly due to the turmoil caused by the Opium War (1839-42) with the Europeans and the Taiping rebellion (1851-1864). The latter devastated the region. During this period, there were few educated patrons commissioning the production of teapots. Certain trends began to emerge at the end of the nineteenth century, when the production of Yixing ware was geared towards the commercial market. Firms, which had existed since the eighteenth century, engaged in the commissioning, sale and distribution of Yixing ware. Potters were contracted by these firms to produce desired shapes and quantities. By the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, it was this type of firm, most notably Zhenji and Tiehua Xuan, that kept the pottery industry alive. A shop with the name Tiehua Xuan still exists to this day near the Yu garden in Shanghai. There are a number of Tiehua Xuan products in this exhibition. Dai Guobao, a native of Nanjing first established the Tiehua Xuan shop in the early twentieth century. Dai had engraved designs on porcelain with an iron stylus, hence the name of his shop Tiehua Xuan, which means �Iron Picture Studio.� His firm employed potters, engravers and other employees involved in Yixing ware production. He died in 1927, and his widow and later his son, Dai Xiangming, continued the business until 1956 when their property was confis�cated by the Communist government. Tiehua Xuan was particularly famous for its fine engraved designs of various styles of ancient calligraphy. One of the greatest potters to work for Tiehua Xuan was Wu Yungen (1892-1969) who produced many elegant teapots in a shape called guleng (No. J). In the early twentieth century, calligraphic inscriptions and pictorial designs continued to be carved on Yixing ware; however, these were not done by scholars, but by commercial artists. Also, a number of purely decorative pots modelled after a tree trunk or fruits were created, doing away with the need for calligraphy on them. The demands of mass production greatly diminished the creative individuality and spirit of the potters, who now turned to slavishly copying pieces made by earlier masters. Simple shapes of teapots seem to be favoured and teapots with overhead handles became more popular. The Yixing pottery industry continued to survive into the early twentieth century but with the small family businesses largely being assimilated by big commercial companies. The Republican government (1912-1949) sought to revitalize the Yixing pottery industry and promoted it at the Panama International Trade Exhibi�tion of 1915 (No. 33) and other such expositions at London, Paris and Chicago, where it was awarded a number of gold medals. This sponsorship and recogni�tion helped the industry to remain healthy until the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937. During World War II and the subsequent civil war between the Nationalists and Communists, the industry remained at a standstill. It was not until 1954 that the Yixing companies resumed production on a large scale, this time under nationalized supervision (No. xvii). During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the potters and inscribers were not permitted to sign their pieces and, therefore, they were largely left undecorated. Today there are a number of master craftsmen such as Wang Yinchun, Zhu Kexin, Wu Yungen, Gu Jingzhou and Jiang Rong producing exceptional Yixing 10
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