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- lack the quaint charm of the coarser Ming and
Qing pieces.
The Characteristics of Ming
and Qing Cloisonne
Since no authenticated Yuan dynasty cloisonne
is extant, we cannot discuss its appearance.
However, numerous Ming and Qing pieces
have survived and do allow for technical and
stylistic analysis.
Unfortunately, since the study of Chinese
cloisonne does not have the thorough connois-
seurship of the type that allows porcelain to be
set into its proper chronological sequence, and
since there is a lack of archaeologically exca-
vated examples of ancient cloisonne pieces, the
dating of many cloisonne pieces is rather diffi-
cult.
Early Ming cloisonne pieces of the fifteenth
century are scarse, much more so than early
Ming porcelain. The early pieces are robust in
shape, naturalistic in design, sombre in colour,
and tend to be rendered in porcelain shapes
rather than metal forms. The bodies of these
wares are of heavy cast-bronze (or brass) with
handwrought bronze cloison wires soldered on.
The bronze is an alloy composed of 70-80 per
cent copper, 20-30 per cent zinc, and less than
1 per cent lead and tin. The wires, made by
hammering from bronze ingots, are often im-
perfect and uneven in thickness. Under close
examination, one sees that many of the wires
show signs of longitudinal splitting because the
bronze is very brittle. The wires may have been
overworked or there was inadequate annealing
(tempering), which causes them to split during
the repeated heating process. The force applied
during the polishing may also cause splitting.
The presence of split wires is often used as a
means of identifying a Ming cloisonne piece.
The enamel surface on early Ming pieces is
far from perfect, and is pitted with holes caused
when the zinc in the bronze vaporizes, creating
gases that bubble up in the enamel. Discoloura-
tion and bubbles also sometimes occurred in the
enamel because of the reaction of the melting
solder during firing. It seems that some time
after polishing, these holes were filled in with
coloured wax, which has discoloured over time.
The decorations on early pieces are often
well spaced and there is little use of background
scrolls and spirals to fill vacant spaces like in
later pieces. The colours used at this time were
turquoise-blue (often used for the background),
dark blue (made from cobalt imported from
Iran known as Mohammedan blue), red, yellow,
dirty white, and, very dark green.
By the late fifteenth century mixed colours
were developed. Red and white particles were
mixed to form a salami-like combination which
came to be known as Ming Pink, and later
yellow and green were also combined. In addi-
tion, the dark blue lost its brilliance due to the
lack of Mohammedan blue from Iran, and its
replacement by native cobalt caused it to be-
come dull and greyish.
In the first half of the sixteenth century,
several new mixed colours came into use. The
designs became more open and varied. The
vacant spaces give way to wire outlines in the
background, which often form independent
decorative patterns of their own and serve to
hold the enamel in place.
By the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
century, large striking temple pieces such as
candleprickets, flower vases and incense burn-
ers, were made in great numbers. Also at this
time finely mixed colours begin to replace the
coarser mixtures.
By far the most popular motif on Ming cloi-
sonne is the lotus, the symbol of the purity of
the Buddhist faith. The stem of the lotus is
usually formed by a single wire from which
buds, spiral tendrils and leaves of various shapes,
spring forth. The style of the lotus flower and
its leaves, when examined closely, can help to
establish a dating sequence for many pieces.
Other popular motifs on Ming cloisonne in-
clude chrysanthemums, plums, bamboo, cranes,
grapevines and squirrels, and ponies galloping
over waves. In later Ming designs, the dragon
and phoenix, as well as Buddhist and Daoist
emblems become popular. In the second half of
the sixteenth century elaborate landscape scenes
become more numerous, such as scenes with
animals and birds as well as human figures in
garden settings. This change in decoration on
cloisonne follows a similar change which went
on in the field of ceramics.
Some time in the seventeenth century, which
saw the takeover of the Ming dynasty by the
Qing dynasty in 1644, major changes take place
in the making of cloisonne. The uneven hand-
wrought bronze wires of the Ming were replaced
by uniform die-drawn copper wires, which have
a malleable quality, and eliminated the split
wire phenomenon. Also copper began to replace
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