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Lot Essay
This large and exceptionally well-painted vase is a testament to the skill of ceramic artists in the mid-20th century. At first sight the front of the vase appears to depict a traditional Chinese snowy landscape, and it is not until the viewer takes a second look that they realise that instead of the pavilions or temples that would normally nestle in this landscape, there are factory buildings. On the back of the vase the subject matter is made clear, not only in the poem but in the blue-clad figures wearily following the fluttering red flag of the Communist Party as they make their way north through the snow.
The vase commemorates one of the most famous events of modern Chinese history the so-called 'Long March', which was undertaken by members of the Red Army of the Communist Party between October 1934 and October 1935. Those who undertook this march from Jiangxi to Shaanxi, had to take a circuitous route travelling west and then north through very difficult terrain. It has been estimated that they covered some 8,000 miles and endured great hardship, losing many of their comrades on the way. They have taken on the mantle of heroes in China. The poem on the vase is based on an historic poem by Mao Zedong, written in February 1936, entitled Qin yuan chun xue. The poem on the vase can be translated as:
'The Northern landscape
Is boundless and disorientating
Ice freezes over thousands of miles
Snowflakes flutter in the wind
Covered in white and bathed in red
Under the bright sun
The land is exceptionally beautiful'.
The poem thus makes reference to the hardship of the journey, but also suggests the joy of arrival under the red sun, which in this case evokes the red flag of the Communist Party.
The style of the enamel painting and the idealised snowy scene of the factory on the front of the vase suggest that this vase was probably painted in the 1960s. It is likely that the scene was inspired by Mao Zedong's Socialist Education Movement, which lasted from 1963 to 1966, during which time intellectuals were required to work in the fields or in factories and model factories were praised and held up as examples to others. A similarly painted scene of a factory in a snowy landscape appears on a dish painted in 1964 by Senior master Yu Wenxiang at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, the site of the old Imperial kilns (illustrated by the National Museums of Scotland in Mao: Art for the Masses - Revolutionary art of the Mao Zedong era 1950-1976, Edinburgh, 2003, p. 28, no. 19). A plaque in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, dated to the period 1960-67, also depicts a similarly painted snowy scene, but with less obvious modern constructions.
The size of the vase, the quality of the painting of the landscape and the elaborate borders, as well as the calligraphy of the poem and its subject, all suggest that this was a special vase, which may have been made for a significant occasion.
The vase commemorates one of the most famous events of modern Chinese history the so-called 'Long March', which was undertaken by members of the Red Army of the Communist Party between October 1934 and October 1935. Those who undertook this march from Jiangxi to Shaanxi, had to take a circuitous route travelling west and then north through very difficult terrain. It has been estimated that they covered some 8,000 miles and endured great hardship, losing many of their comrades on the way. They have taken on the mantle of heroes in China. The poem on the vase is based on an historic poem by Mao Zedong, written in February 1936, entitled Qin yuan chun xue. The poem on the vase can be translated as:
'The Northern landscape
Is boundless and disorientating
Ice freezes over thousands of miles
Snowflakes flutter in the wind
Covered in white and bathed in red
Under the bright sun
The land is exceptionally beautiful'.
The poem thus makes reference to the hardship of the journey, but also suggests the joy of arrival under the red sun, which in this case evokes the red flag of the Communist Party.
The style of the enamel painting and the idealised snowy scene of the factory on the front of the vase suggest that this vase was probably painted in the 1960s. It is likely that the scene was inspired by Mao Zedong's Socialist Education Movement, which lasted from 1963 to 1966, during which time intellectuals were required to work in the fields or in factories and model factories were praised and held up as examples to others. A similarly painted scene of a factory in a snowy landscape appears on a dish painted in 1964 by Senior master Yu Wenxiang at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, the site of the old Imperial kilns (illustrated by the National Museums of Scotland in Mao: Art for the Masses - Revolutionary art of the Mao Zedong era 1950-1976, Edinburgh, 2003, p. 28, no. 19). A plaque in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, dated to the period 1960-67, also depicts a similarly painted snowy scene, but with less obvious modern constructions.
The size of the vase, the quality of the painting of the landscape and the elaborate borders, as well as the calligraphy of the poem and its subject, all suggest that this was a special vase, which may have been made for a significant occasion.