Plum Blossom Tree

A large Blanc de Chine porcelain plum blossom tree, comprising two large intertwined trunks. The crowns have smaller branches, which are adorned with blossom in various stages of bloom - buds as well as flowers. The realistically modelled trunk ends in big gnarly roots. The kaolin clay around the porcelain production city of Dehua, was especially good for shaping and moulding objects like this, the purity of the clay resulting in a bright white porcelain. Blossom trees were among the more sculptural pieces created by the Dehua potters during the 18th and 19th centuries, and probably made for the European market. These trees are known in different sizes, this example appears to be among the largest created.

This tree represents a prunus or plum blossom tree (meihua), which in China are very emblematic and laden with symbolic meaning. They are greatly admired for their beauty, which is why their blooms are considered ‘the first amongst flowers’ and a very popular subject matter for art and poetry. As the flowers always emerge before the leaves, it’s flowering heralds the coming spring and is therefore the representation of winter. Being so hardy, this tree also represents hope and endurance during adversity. The five flower petals, embody the many ‘fives’ in Chinese imagery - including the five gods of prosperity; five good fortunes; five good luck gods etc. In modern China the meihua is also the National Flower, its petals representing the five Chinese peoples: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Mohammedan and Tibetan.

The Asian Civilisations Museum has a similar large example, but with figures (acc.no. 2019-00535). Smaller trees in square containers are in The Laura Collection, Turin, and the British Museum, London (acc.no.1980,0728.198).

China, Western Han Dynasty, mid 2nd century BC

H: 60.5 cm | L: 53 cm

Provenance

With Vanderven & Vanderven, 1990

Private Collection, Germany 2022

TL tested by Oxford Authentication, 1988

Literature

Bonneux 2006, p.81-2 no.99

Harrist & Bower 1997, p.54-55 no.1

Jacobson 2013, p.60-61

Kentucky 2000, p.138 no.121

Liu 1991, p.116-117

New York 2017, p.94-94 no.1

Paris 1995, p50 no.10

Paris 2014, p.81 no.16

Wang 1994, p.107

A large pottery figural group of a mounted cavalryman. The horse stands four square, its ears pricked backwards, teeth bared and nostrils flared - poised to respond to his master’s command. This sturdy barrel-chested horse, is painted reddish brown with its tack and saddle drawn onto the body with contrasting white pigment. The rider wears a short red tunic with a rolled collar and a white undergarment over narrow white trousers. His red head-covering with a black band, is tied under the chin, his facial details lightly moulded and accentuated in black. His hands are folded into fists and would probably have originally held reins or brandished a spear. The legs of the rider were moulded as part of the horse; the rider’s hollow upper-body was made separately and slotted onto the horse using a long wooden pin. The moulded tail, which is docked and bound, is detachable.

This equestrian group, reflects the Western Han transition from warfare based on infantry and chariots, to that using lighter faster cavalry units. This transformation was propelled by the use of new superior horses, which were clearly larger and more muscular than those from previous periods. It is from this early Han period, that they started cross-breeding stockier native horses with larger, faster and more agile mounts. These new breeds were thought to have been acquired through trade with the nomadic Xiongnu tribes, from the steppes north of Chinamarking the beginning of the northern Silk Road trade routes.

Cavalrymen such as this one, typify a style associated with royal Western Han burials, found just North East of the Imperial capital Xi’an in Shaanxi province. At the Yangjiawan site a massive 583 equestrian riders, much like this one, were found within the mausoleum complex of Emperor Gaozu (r.205-195 BC). They were unearthed in 1965 from two satellite grave mounds, thought to house the tombs of general Zhou Yafu (d.169 BC) and his son. Such burial honours were usually only accorded to imperial family members and others persons of high status.

Similar cavalrymen are now in the Xianjang City Museum. Musée Guimet, Paris also has a similar horse in its collection (MA6089) as does the Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA, (acc.no.2001.205a-c).

The Han dynasty was one of the truly great dynasties in China, in terms of statecraft, economy, agricultural reform and culture. The powerful rulers made a host of industrial innovations, including mass production and uniformization of processes. Ritual and burial were still considered essential to be successful in the afterlife, so the Han rulers spent up to third of their state revenue on building their imperial tombs during their lifetimes. The importance of these extended burials in Han society was such, that the manufacture of figurines and other funeral objects (mingqi, 明器) even became a specialist trade.

China, Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)

H: 57.5 cm - 61 cm

Provenance

With Lam & Co, London

R. Woodhead Collection, United Kingdom, 2022

TL tested by Oxford Authentication

Literature

Bonneux 2006, p.70-77, no.1&2

Desroches 1996, p.31-33

Jenkins 2005, p.104-105

Ledderose 2000, p.65

Mater 2011, p.114-143

Paris 2000, p.249 no.97

Paris 2014, p.71-75 no.8-11

Sun 2017, p.114-115, no.36a

Taipei 2009, p.82-111

A group of Chinese pottery figures known as ‘Stickmen’, for their upright and elongated appearance. The bodies were made in individual moulds for the body, legs, feet and heads. Facial features, such as nose and ears, were added later by hand giving each piece its unique character. The figure would then be assembled with clay and fired, the body colours and details cold painted on afterwards. The solid bodies would have originally been clothed with textile or leather garments, now deteriorated. Their articulated arms were presumably made of wood or another natural material, which have also decayed over time. We know from excavations that such nude figures, were interred in great number in imperial and noble burials, forming a vast household retinue for the deceased in the afterlife. This entourage not only featured figures of attendants and soldiers, but also horses and other farm animals, small buildings and other useful artefacts.

Stickmen were first uncovered on the burial site of Emperor Jing (r.157141 BC) in the Han Yanglin Mausoleum Complex (Shaanxi province). Excavated ceramic workshops also revealed how such figures were mass produced, supplying the ever increasing demand for such goods. The sheer number of figures found was extraordinary; and even though smaller in size, they surpassed the famous Terracotta army in volume, numbering over 40,000 figures. This period also marked the end of the practice of human sacrifice for burial rituals in China. Previously slaves had been interred with the deceased rulers, but his practice lost favour from the Warring States period (475-221 BC) onwards. Figures and artefacts made of wood, pottery, bronze or other materials, gradually began to be preferred in burials.

Musée Guimet, Paris has such male figure (MA5141) and two females are now in the Portland Art Museum, Oregon. The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco also has a stickman in their collection (acc.no. 1996.27.1). One from the famous Yangling Museum was on loan in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2017. A larger group was exhibited in the Drents Museum, Assen in 2008.

PROVENANCE

With Vanderven & Vanderven 2007

Private Collection, The Netherlands 2021

TL Tested by Oxford Authentication

PUBLISHED

PAN Amsterdam Fair catalogue 2007, p.251

LITERATURE

Bower 2002, p.129 no.45

Caroselli 1987, p.54-55 & cat.no.60

Choi 2007, p.252 no.111

Cologne 2008, p.11 pl.14-15

Harrist & Bower 1997, p.68 no.8

Jacobson 2013, p.224-225

Kentucky 2000, p.156 no.144

Thorpe & Bower 1982, p.64-64 no.38