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Lot Essay
Travelling through Anatolia in 1331, Ibn Battuta (1304-1377) noted the strong taste in the Islamic world for fine Chinese porcelain. The existing collections of Chinese porcelains in Ardebil and in the Topkapi Museum consist mostly of Yuan, Ming and Qing pieces - the largest group of which is the blue and white porcelain (T. Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East. Topkapi and Ardebil, Vol.II, Hong Kong, 1981, p.22). Many of these Chinese porcelains went on to inspire the luxury ceramics produced at the Ottoman and Safavid courts. However as well as exporting their own wares which delighted and inspired the craftsmen of the Islamic world, the Chinese also produced large quantities of blue-and-white ceramics in 'Islamic' forms for local consumption.
It is likely that our pen box is one of those. The mark indicates that it was made in the short ten-year reign of the Xuande emperor (1426-1435), soon after Ibn Battuta made his observations. At this period, there was an improvement in the quality of production standards and technologies at the Ming court. There was also an increased conformity in the design of the goods produced – although there were more patterns, forms and colour combinations, the decoration followed designs supplied by the court (Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming. 50 years that changed China, exhibition catalogue, London, 2014, p.88). Outward-looking policies in the period between 1400-50 brought increased diplomatic contacts with courts across Eurasia and instigated the desire for new ‘foreign’ shapes using traditional Chinese materials.
Distinctive blue and white porcelains in the form of Egyptian, Syrian and Central Asian metalwork and glass were commissioned by the Yongle and Xuande emperors specifically. In the catalogue that accompanied the British Museum exhibition on the Ming dynasty, Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall illustrate numerous forms from the Islamic world that were imported into the Ming repertoire. These included candlesticks, basins, tankards, flasks and ewers as well as pen boxes (Clunas and Harrison-Hall, op.cit., pp.94-95).
Often the Islamic objects copied were considerably earlier than their Chinese counterparts. It is possible that they were collected and kept at the Yuan court and provided inspiration for later potters there. A blue and white tray stand (qizuo) in the British Museum, made in the Yongle period (1403-24), illustrates this (OA 1966.12-15.1; Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p.110, no..3:22). It clearly copies Mamluk Egyptian examples of a type made about a hundred years earlier – for instance one inscribed with the titles of the Sultan Muhammad ibn Qalawun (r.1293-1341), also in the British Museum (1897.0510.1). The potter must either have seen a drawing of the Mamluk tray, or given the very close resemblance, had access to an original which he copied. Interestingly, prior to its acquisition by the British Museum, the Yongle tray stand was owned by a Dr. Joseph Aractingi who bought it in the souq in Damascus (for more information on this piece see John Carswell, ’An early Ming porcelain stand from Damascus’, Oriental Art, New Series, vol.XII, no.3, Autumn 1966, pp.176-182). At what stage it travelled to Damascus is unclear but its presence there illustrates the trade link between the two empires.
Shards of blue and white porcelain decorated with pseudo-Arabic inscriptions were unearthed at Dongyuan, Zhushan in 1993. One of these has a Xuande imperial reign mark, as ours reinforcing the production of Islamic style porcelains at the Xuande court (Harrison Hall, op.cit., p.111).
Our pen box although very Islamic in form is decorated with traditional Chinese motifs of the ‘Three Friends of Winter’, plum blossom, bamboo and pine. A very similar pen box, with the same decoration to that offered here is in the collection of Sir Percival David, the celebrated collector of Chinese ceramics (Rosemary Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration – Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London/Singapore, 1992, p.50, no.40). That is catalogued as Yongle. The Xuande mark on ours may indicate that it was inspired by the Percival David example.
Ming pen boxes of similar type later entered the Ottoman court and were sometimes heavily decorated with gold and rubies to suit the taste of the Ottoman court. One such example is now in the Topkapi Saray Museum (2/894, Esin Atil, The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, exhibition catalogue, Washington, 1987, no.68, p135). The interior of the Topkapi pen box was further adapted in Turkey to serve the Ottoman calligrapher. The box was fitted with two jade and gold inkwells, enhanced with rubies, diamonds and emeralds, as well as a 'pounce box' and a compartment for pens. However other boxes, including one in the David Collection, like ours have porcelain interiors with defined areas for the various tools, all similarly decorated to the exterior, demonstrating that the Chinese potters began to adapt to the Islamic shape to hold their ink, paints and brushes - an interesting cross-cultural transaction (Atil, op.cit., 1987, p.136). As well as making their way to Turkey, some of these Chinese versions were also later exported to Iran. The David Collection example, mentioned above, has a Safavid Persian lid, probably made around 1600 to replace one either lost or broken (Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam in the David Collection, Copenhagen, 2001, no.241, pp.125 and 179). An example of one of these Ming pen boxes that travelled to the Islamic world was sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 133.
It is likely that our pen box is one of those. The mark indicates that it was made in the short ten-year reign of the Xuande emperor (1426-1435), soon after Ibn Battuta made his observations. At this period, there was an improvement in the quality of production standards and technologies at the Ming court. There was also an increased conformity in the design of the goods produced – although there were more patterns, forms and colour combinations, the decoration followed designs supplied by the court (Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming. 50 years that changed China, exhibition catalogue, London, 2014, p.88). Outward-looking policies in the period between 1400-50 brought increased diplomatic contacts with courts across Eurasia and instigated the desire for new ‘foreign’ shapes using traditional Chinese materials.
Distinctive blue and white porcelains in the form of Egyptian, Syrian and Central Asian metalwork and glass were commissioned by the Yongle and Xuande emperors specifically. In the catalogue that accompanied the British Museum exhibition on the Ming dynasty, Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall illustrate numerous forms from the Islamic world that were imported into the Ming repertoire. These included candlesticks, basins, tankards, flasks and ewers as well as pen boxes (Clunas and Harrison-Hall, op.cit., pp.94-95).
Often the Islamic objects copied were considerably earlier than their Chinese counterparts. It is possible that they were collected and kept at the Yuan court and provided inspiration for later potters there. A blue and white tray stand (qizuo) in the British Museum, made in the Yongle period (1403-24), illustrates this (OA 1966.12-15.1; Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p.110, no..3:22). It clearly copies Mamluk Egyptian examples of a type made about a hundred years earlier – for instance one inscribed with the titles of the Sultan Muhammad ibn Qalawun (r.1293-1341), also in the British Museum (1897.0510.1). The potter must either have seen a drawing of the Mamluk tray, or given the very close resemblance, had access to an original which he copied. Interestingly, prior to its acquisition by the British Museum, the Yongle tray stand was owned by a Dr. Joseph Aractingi who bought it in the souq in Damascus (for more information on this piece see John Carswell, ’An early Ming porcelain stand from Damascus’, Oriental Art, New Series, vol.XII, no.3, Autumn 1966, pp.176-182). At what stage it travelled to Damascus is unclear but its presence there illustrates the trade link between the two empires.
Shards of blue and white porcelain decorated with pseudo-Arabic inscriptions were unearthed at Dongyuan, Zhushan in 1993. One of these has a Xuande imperial reign mark, as ours reinforcing the production of Islamic style porcelains at the Xuande court (Harrison Hall, op.cit., p.111).
Our pen box although very Islamic in form is decorated with traditional Chinese motifs of the ‘Three Friends of Winter’, plum blossom, bamboo and pine. A very similar pen box, with the same decoration to that offered here is in the collection of Sir Percival David, the celebrated collector of Chinese ceramics (Rosemary Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration – Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London/Singapore, 1992, p.50, no.40). That is catalogued as Yongle. The Xuande mark on ours may indicate that it was inspired by the Percival David example.
Ming pen boxes of similar type later entered the Ottoman court and were sometimes heavily decorated with gold and rubies to suit the taste of the Ottoman court. One such example is now in the Topkapi Saray Museum (2/894, Esin Atil, The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, exhibition catalogue, Washington, 1987, no.68, p135). The interior of the Topkapi pen box was further adapted in Turkey to serve the Ottoman calligrapher. The box was fitted with two jade and gold inkwells, enhanced with rubies, diamonds and emeralds, as well as a 'pounce box' and a compartment for pens. However other boxes, including one in the David Collection, like ours have porcelain interiors with defined areas for the various tools, all similarly decorated to the exterior, demonstrating that the Chinese potters began to adapt to the Islamic shape to hold their ink, paints and brushes - an interesting cross-cultural transaction (Atil, op.cit., 1987, p.136). As well as making their way to Turkey, some of these Chinese versions were also later exported to Iran. The David Collection example, mentioned above, has a Safavid Persian lid, probably made around 1600 to replace one either lost or broken (Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam in the David Collection, Copenhagen, 2001, no.241, pp.125 and 179). An example of one of these Ming pen boxes that travelled to the Islamic world was sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 133.