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