Jingdezhen kilns
Brush Washer with Design of Fruit and Flowers
1400-1432
Scroll
Jingdezhen kilns
Brush Washer with Design of Fruit and Flowers
1400-1432
Physical Qualities
Porcelain with underglaze cobalt decoration, 2 × 8 1/4 in. (5.1 × 21 cm.)
Credit Line
Julius Levy Memorial Fund
Object Number
1953.208
Vessels that held water for rinsing ink out of a brush were among a scholar’s essential tools for painting and calligraphy. This flower-shaped brush washer is one of the finest works in the BMA’s Asian art collection. The porcelain body is refined and dense. The glaze, a palest blue, is luminous. The intensity of the cobalt design reveals that the pigment was carefully prepared, although over-concentration produced the distinctive “heaped and piled” inky spots. Pairs of thin lines define the vessel’s shaped rim and encircle the central motif, which is painted in strong and energetic outlines filled with carefully applied washes, and is restated around the exterior in ten shaped frames. The design’s balance, execution and placement on the undecorated surface of the vessel are features of imperial-quality porcelain of this time.
The brush washer’s shape is based on Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907) foliate mirrors. Trace amounts of iron in the local clay, fired in the reduction atmosphere of the early Jingdezhen kilns, resulted in the pale bluish tone. Other elements derive from foreign influences. The Islamic world’s preference for blue-and-white ceramics prompted the use of cobalt pigment to decorate Chinese white porcelain during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). The cobalt ore was imported from Persia, while flower, leaf and vine decoration was brought to China with Buddhist imagery of the 3rd–5th century.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1953; C. K. Chang, Baltimore
Asian Reinstallation: Home, Temple, Tomb
[Asian Refresh]
Asian Gallery Rotations 2023
Asian Rotations 2024
Asian Rotations 2025
Frances Klapthor, "Brushwasher," "Diamond of the Month," BMA, 1989.
Frances Klapthor, "Chinese Ceramics," Baltimore: BMA, 1993, no. 29, p. 41, ill.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum. Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
Beatriz da Silva, trans., "Special Exhibition of Early Ming Porcelain," Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1982, unpaginated.
Li Zi Yan and Chan Liang Zhu, "A Collection of Ancient Porcelain Treasures," Hong Kong: The Wood's Publishing Co., (Overseas Archeological Exhibition Corporation), 1988, no. 96, p. 238, ill. p. 239 [for a covered meiping, unmarked, identified as Yongle, decorated with pomegranate, grape and loquat sprays
"Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from The Cleveland Museum of Art," Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991, no. 55, ill. [for a similar form, unmarked, decorated with dragons, 18 cm. diam.]
"Fine Chinese Ceramics, Works of Art, Furniture, Jade Carvings and Jadeite Jewellery," Sotheby's, Hong Kong, October 27-28, 1992, no. 35 [with Xuande mark, dragon motif]
"The Imperial Sale," Christies, Hong Kong, April 28, 1996, no. 49 [marked Xuande, dragon motif, 81/4 in. diam.]
"Highly Important Ming and Qing Imperial Porcelain from a Private Collection," Sotheby's, Hong Kong, April 29, 1997, pp. 31-33, no. 405, pp. 34-35, ill. [essay on "Washers of Flower Shape," and similar form, with Xuande reign mark, decorated with dragons, 7 3/8 in. diam.]
Thomas Bachman, 'Ink Cakes on the Desk,' Asian Art, 4/2001, pp. 7-8 [for concise article on the topic with pictures]
'Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art,' Sotheby's, London, 11/14/2001, no. 96: Yongle Ewer [compare fruiting spray motif identified as fruiting loquat]
Li Zi Yan and Chan Liang Zhu, "A Collection of Ancient Porcelain Treasures," Hong Kong: The Wood's Publishing Co., (Overseas Archeological Exhibition Corporation), 1988, no. 96, p. 238, ill. p. 239 [for a covered meiping, unmarked, identified as Yongle, decorated with pomegranate, grape and loquat sprays
"Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from The Cleveland Museum of Art," Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991, no. 55, ill. [for a similar form, unmarked, decorated with dragons, 18 cm. diam.]
"Fine Chinese Ceramics, Works of Art, Furniture, Jade Carvings and Jadeite Jewellery," Sotheby's, Hong Kong, October 27-28, 1992, no. 35 [with Xuande mark, dragon motif]
"The Imperial Sale," Christies, Hong Kong, April 28, 1996, no. 49 [marked Xuande, dragon motif, 81/4 in. diam.]
"Highly Important Ming and Qing Imperial Porcelain from a Private Collection," Sotheby's, Hong Kong, April 29, 1997, pp. 31-33, no. 405, pp. 34-35, ill. [essay on "Washers of Flower Shape," and similar form, with Xuande reign mark, decorated with dragons, 7 3/8 in. diam.]
Thomas Bachman, 'Ink Cakes on the Desk,' Asian Art, 4/2001, pp. 7-8 [for concise article on the topic with pictures]
'Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art,' Sotheby's, London, 11/14/2001, no. 96: Yongle Ewer [compare fruiting spray motif identified as fruiting loquat]
On View at the BMA
Explore the Collection Further
