The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Bulletin

Buddha figures in niches. The portals provide views into the core
of the shrine, a central pillar carved with Buddhas of the
Four Directions enthroned beneath an elaborate canopy. Rows
of niches on the inside walls enshrine the Thousand Buddhas,
each accompanied by the name of a donor.
The pagoda, which reportedly came from northern Honan
Province, not far from the Northern Ch'i capital, has been
dated to the end of the Northern Ch'i, around 570, but
variations in the style of the sculptures indicate that work
continued into the Sui dynasty (58i-6i8). Stylistically, the
images are transitional between the archaic and classical stages
of Chinese sculpture, when the relatively abstract, linear mode
was being transformed into a three-dimensional, highly naturalistic
form of expression. Figures in this style are characterized
by unified rounded forms, enlivened by graceful linear embellishment
of pleats, sashes, or strings of jewels. Technical
perfection in the execution of details is also a hallmark.
The pine, prunus, and bamboo are all emblems of longevity;
they also symbolize the qualities of a gentleman. Depicted as
a trio-as here-they constitute the Three Friends of Winter, a
motif that often appears on fifteenth-century Chinese porcelains.
Although it does not carry an identifying reign mark, this
extremely fine stem bowl shows all of the special qualities of
potting, painting, and glaze that are associated with the almostlegendary
wares produced during the reign of the Ch'eng-hua
emperor (1465-87), and so it may be assigned to that period.
SGV
Bibliography: Suzanne G. Valenstein, "Chinese Ceramics in the Collection
of Adele and Stanley Herzman," Orientations, zi, no. 6 (June
I990), pp. 42-55, fig. 17.
MKH
Bibliography: Otto Kummel, in Jorg Trubner zum Geddchtnis, Berlin,
1930, pp. 1z4ff.; Osvald Siren, "A Great Chinese Monument in
America," Parnassus, io, no. 3 (March 1938), pp. II-15; Wai-kam
Ho, "Notes on Chinese Sculpture from Northern Ch'i to Sui, Part I:
Two Seated Stone Buddhas in the Cleveland Museum," Archives of
Asian Art, zz (I968-69), pp. 7-55.
Stem Bowl
Chinese (Ming dynasty), late i5th century (Ch'eng-hua period)
Porcelain painted in underglaze blue
Diameter, 6I/4 in. (I5.9 cm)
Gift of Adele and Stanley Herzman, I990
1990.29I.3
JAPANESE
ART
Double-Paneled Door with Paintings of Courtesans
Japanese, Edo period (i630-40)
Mineral pigments on cedar
Each panel, 69 x z8'/z in. (175.3 X 7z.4 cm)
Rogers Fund, i990
1990.231
This painting is one of the finest among a group of fewer than
fifteen known paintings that represent the emergence in the
Kan'ei era (1624-44) of the genre of Ukiyo-e. These Kan'ei
works were executed by anonymous machi-eshi, or town painters,
who were more at liberty to depict contemporary society
than the traditional family schools. The courtesan, the quintessential
image of Ukiyo-e art, was at the very outset in the
early seventeenth century a kind of cultural star, who, highly
educated and given special license, enjoyed a free exchange
with the ruling class and set the taste for contemporary fashion.
The essence of the iconography of courtesan painting of
the Kan'ei era was a theatrical presentation of the most memorable,
flamboyant images of these fabulous beauties. Here,
the two most important of the typical images of the courtesan,
engaged in letter reading and parading, have been chosen to
become a pair of symbolic icons that fit perfectly the format of
cedar-board doors. Painted doors of this type were generally
used in pairs to serve as dividers between the interior room
and the outer corridor and to give a visual accent with symbolic
meaning to the room or the mansion as a whole. This
work is the only example extant of a courtesan subject
in this format.
HO
92