China Unknown
Unknown: Stem Cup

porcelain
5.5 x 6.5 x 6.5 in.
2008.33
Estate of Richard N. Tetlie '43 in honor of Evelyn Ytterboe Tetlie and Joseph Tetlie

This object’s advanced glazed porcelain, white with copper glaze that is fired and then refired with glaze, indicates that it must be from after 1400 C.E, although a more specific date identification is difficult. The lines of the copper detail are unclear and faded, while the actual subject matter on the bowl is rather plain. This probably indicates that this object is not from an imperial kiln, but rather a private, perhaps black-market kiln that produces facsimiles of imperial objects for upper-middle class individuals seeking a higher social status.
The object takes on a basic, crude shape quite similar to the hourglass shape of Shang and some early Zhou bronzes and ceramics. The detail of the vessel corroborates this: the layered aspect of detail is a motif seen throughout Shang objects. Most notable is the square spiral band across the top of the object. Most Chinese art after the Shang/Zhou shifts towards “curved”, more graceful bands, but here the spirals start and end abruptly, unusual for the technology of the object. This is the most significant sign that the object seeks to reinvigorate artistic styles of past dynasties.

Jon Gillespie
Carleton College
A Scholar’s Studio Exhibition
October 28 – December 18, 2016
Groot Gallery, Flaten Art Museum
Professor Kathleen Ryor
The students involved in curating this show come from two classes – Carleton Professor Kathleen Ryor’s Arts of China and St. Olaf Professor Karil Kucera’s Visual Culture in Modern China