A WUCAI ENAMELLED ‘STORY OF THE BLUE ROBE’ JAR

45.

A WUCAI ENAMELLED ‘STORY OF THE BLUE ROBE’ JAR
Qing dynasty, circa 1645-1660
27,6 high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3832.

This jar, now missing its cover, is decorated in the wucai palette. It is noteworthy for the free painterly style utilising the entire porcelain body as a canvas for the decorative design.
The ‘Transitional’ period saw increased popularity in representation of novels, historical writings and poetry circulated through woodblock-printed books. This jar is decorated with a scene taken from the Ming dynasty play entitled “Story of the Blue Robe” (Qinshan ji).

A large boat is moored with two officials within it on the shore of a rocky isle; with a further smaller boat with five figures, a sculler and four scholars, holding various objects including a halberd and a lantern; the isle is set with a temple surrounded by wutong, eucalyptus, plantain and willow trees with a scholar sat at a table and leaning through an open window gazing at a willow spirit carrying a girl on his back with the immortal Lu Dongbin at the background. The shoulder of the vase is painted in underglaze blue with cracked-ice design, below the neck with lotus and other flowers amidst rockwork.

In the “Story of the Blue Robe”, Liang Hao, a Song dynasty scholar, was the human form taken by the God of Literacy when he descended to the world. Liang Hao was preparing to sit for a civil service examination. On his mother’s birthday, he followed her instruction to read with several friends in the Pavilion of Looking at Immortals. At that moment, the Celestial Worthy of Thunders wreaked havoc by ordering the Thunder God and Lightening Goddess to cleanse the earth with seven days of thunderstorms. This was an ordeal which Lu Dongbin and other immortals were predestined to undergo and use their own magical abilities to survive. When Lu Dongbin hid in the Pavilion of Looking at Immortals he came upon Liang Hao who was stranded there by the storm. Knowing that Liang was the personification of the God of Literacy and was able to protect him, he asked him to hide in his fingernail as a grain. Liang agreed and Lu Dongbin survived the storm. To express his gratitude, Lu Dongbin left Liang Hao his good wishes for longevity, a successful career and having many successful descendants. The following day Liang invited three friends over and dined and wined them on a boat. Towards the evening , two of the friends said that they heard there was a spirit in the Pavilion of Looking at Immortals and whomever spent a night there would come under its spell. They dared Liang Hao to spend the night there for a reward of a tael of silver. Liang accepted the challenge and stayed in the Pavilion reading by a lamp. Lu Dongbin thought that this was an opportunity to repay Liang’s kindness and had a willow-tree spirit carry a girl to Liang to be his future wife. As the girl arrived naked, Liang covered her in his blue robe. Later, Lu Dongbin good wishes for Liang materialised when Liang Hao and his son Liang Gu, both won first place in the examinations.

A similar scene is depicted on a wucai sleeve vase and on one side of a wucai jar, illustrated in M. Butler – J.B. Curtis – S. Little, (edited by) ShunzhiPorcelain. Treasures from an Unknown Reign 1644-1661, exhibition catalogue, Alexandria (Virginia) 2002, pp. 194-197, nn. 58-59; see also a similarly decorated sleeve vase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. n. 2010.480); compare also with a sleeve vase in the Burghley House collection, almost surely painted by the same artist author of the vase here discussed (G. Lang, The Wrestling Boys. An exhibition of Chinese and Japanese ceramics from the 16^th to the 18^th century in the collection at Burghley House, exhibition catalogue, Stamford 1983,p. 69, n. 163).

Passing the civil examinations was key for success and advancement in the Ming and Qing periods. Therefore by extension of the story, the good wishes bestowed by Lu Dongbin on Liang Hao, represent those wished upon the owner of the jar.