colour scheme
Porcelain decorated in Overglaze Enamels
Porcelain Decorated in Overglaze Enamels
The use of overglaze enamels on porcelain, otherwise known as polychrome decoration began in the 15th century. There were two types of firing processes involved in early Ch'ing polychromes. The first where the enamels were painted straight onto the body, which had either been fired with a thin glaze dressing or been baked and left unglazed, and this is commonly referred to as ‘on the biscuit'. The second combines the use of both underglaze and overglaze enamels. This was the method employed for the majority of ceramics in this collection. In previous years these enamelled pieces would have been classified as famille verte, famille rose, famille noire and famille jaune, terms originally coined by the French anthropologist and collector Albert Jacquemart (1808-1875) (Kerr 1998:95) As noted by Kerr ‘they have proved useful, if rather misleading, quick reference labels' (Kerr 1998:95). Current thinking on the subject appears to favour the description of overglaze enamels or overglaze polychrome decoration because as noted by Vivian Ting ‘such a change would make more sense of what the glazing is about, rather than describing it according to its dominant colour scheme which in some cases, are difficult to distinguish' (Pers. Comm.28/04/07). In this report I have used the more modern terminology and where appropriate have also indicated whether the piece would have previously been classified as famille rose or famille verte.
In the collection there are also four pieces which are decorated in the Chinese Imari Palette. During the 17th century civil war in China impacted hugely on the export trade in that the kilns at Jingdezhen were destroyed between 1674/1675, and they were not rebuilt again until 1683 (Nadler 2001: Chp.2). During this period traders looked towards Japan to fill the export gap. The traders were introduced to the Imari colours of an orange, blue and gold palette, which proved to be a popular export ware. However once the kilns at Jing-de-zhen re-opened in the early 1700's, the traders realised that the Chinese could produce their own ‘Chinese Imari' of underglaze blue, rouge-de-fir (red) and gold for a much cheaper price (Nadler 2001: Chp 7).
The pieces in this category provide a broad overview of the ways in which overglaze enamels were used and how styles changed. For instance in Plate 47 the earlier 19th century Canton famille rose vase is decorated with a butterfly with black wings, in contrast to the later 19th Century Canton famille rose vase (K55A/B), where the butterfly is now decorated in pink overglaze enamel. There are also some pieces of porcelain which are garishly over decorated (15 & 16/1905 & K55A/B)) in contrast to the more delicate nature of K70.
