The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World HistoryIlluminating one thousand years of history, The Pilgrim Art explores the remarkable cultural influence of Chinese porcelain around the globe. Cobalt ore was shipped from Persia to China in the fourteenth century, where it was used to decorate porcelain for Muslims in Southeast Asia, India, Persia, and Iraq. Spanish galleons delivered porcelain to Peru and Mexico while aristocrats in Europe ordered tableware from Canton. The book tells the fascinating story of how porcelain became a vehicle for the transmission and assimilation of artistic symbols, themes, and designs across vast distances—from Japan and Java to Egypt and England. It not only illustrates how porcelain influenced local artistic traditions but also shows how it became deeply intertwined with religion, economics, politics, and social identity. Bringing together many strands of history in an engaging narrative studded with fascinating vignettes, this is a history of cross-cultural exchange focused on an exceptional commodity that illuminates the emergence of what is arguably the first genuinely global culture. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 The Porcelain City | 17 |
2 The Secrets of Porcelain | 47 |
3 The Creation of Porcelain | 81 |
4 The Culture of Porcelain in China | 107 |
5 The Creation of BlueandWhite Porcelain | 139 |
6 The Primacy of Chinese Porcelain | 175 |
7 The Triumph of Chinese Porcelain | 214 |
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Common terms and phrases
ancient artisans Asian became blue-and-white porcelain bowls bronze buddhist celadons ceremony China chinaware Chinese Ceramics Chinese porcelain Chinese pottery chinoiserie Cited clay coast color Confucian copied court craftsmen cultural daimyo decoration dentrecolles designs dishes dragon dutch dynasty early earthenware East edited eighteenth century elite emperor empire Europe European Exhib export fashion fire Fujian glaze gold History Ibn Battuta imperial india islamic jade Japan Japanese jars Jesuit Jingdezhen kilns kilometers king Korean lacquer late London manufacture maritime maritime Southeast Asia Meissen merchants Middle Kingdom Ming Ming dynasty Mongol motifs Museum Muslim nese northern ornament painting palace period Persian Philippines pieces plate political porce ports Portuguese production province Qing Quanzhou Ricci ritual Seattle Art Museum seventeenth century ships Silk road silver Southeast Southern Song Southwest Asia stoneware style Tang teabowls Timurid tin-glazed tion trade traditions vases vessels vietnam wares Wedgwood West Western Yuan Zheng