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The creation of porcelain figurines for decorative purposes may derive from the earliest tradition of Chinese three-dimensional figural art—tomb figures. Production of commemorative ancestral portrait sculptures began about 3,500 years ago during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. It is known that some late Ming dynasty tomb figures served as models for export objects. In the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911), ceramic figures became independent of funerary or religious use, although they still retained their Taoist or Buddhist symbolic meanings. The specialized art of decorative porcelain figurines was practiced chiefly during the late seventeenth to late eighteenth centuries, achieving its highest quality during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. The heads, forearms, and hands of these figures are of carved ivory. The male has a queue of human hair attached to the back of his head, issuing from a painted black circle representing the sole unshaven area on his head. The dress is indicative of the Manchu imperial style. Both figures wear robes in the shade of yellow reserved for emperors and their imperial court. The man’s vest is decorated with dragon roundels in the five cardinal points of shoulders, chest, and knees. The woman’s vest is painted with dragons on the front and a phoenix on the back. The dragon is one of the twelve symbols of imperial sovereignty used in China since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). |
Pair of Figures of Manchu Nobility, ca. 1760, China. Ivory, silk, cotton, paper, bamboo, wire, glass, lacquer, paint, hair, copper, wood. |