The technique of applying brilliant enamel ornament to metalwork, known as cloisonné, reached its peak in China from the fourteenth century on. This sumptuously illustrated survey, which accompanies an exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center, situates these remarkable pieces in their context with a survey of the historical, political and sociological milieu in China during the period. Research recently undertaken in China and published here for the first time has resulted in the redating of a number of objects with significant implications for the overview of Chinese cloisonné production. Shapes, functions, pattern, and symbolism in cloisonné objects are all examined and explored. And the final section of the book reviews the impact of developments in China on later production in Europe, as well as the acquisition of cloisonné pieces by the major American museums and private collectors at the beginning of the twentieth century.


Table of Contents
Foreword
Susan Weber
Preface
Helene David-Weill

Introduction
Beatrice Quette

Reign Dates of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties

Selected Chinese Chronology 1260-1937
Danielle Elisseeff

Selected Chinese Classic Forms

The Emergence of Cloisonne Enamels in China
Beatrice Quette

Inscriptions and Marks
Beatrice Quette
Cloisonne Form and Decoration from the Yuan through the Qing Dynasty
Beatrice Quette

Beyond the Women’s Quarters: Meaning and Function of Cloisonne in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
Pengliang Lu

A Reverence for the Past: Infliences from Chinese Antiquity
Rose Kerr

Auspicious Messages on Cloisonne Vessels
Terese Tse Bartholomew

Scholar Zhang Peeks at Yingying: Thoughts on Pictorial Aspects of Chinese Cloisonne and the Relationship with Painting
Claudia Brown

Cloisonne for the Imperial Courts
Zhang Rong

The Revival of Cloisonne Enamel in France at the End of the Nineteenth Century
Odile Nouvel-Kammerer

Early Collections and Displays of Chinese Cloisonne Enamel in Europe and the United States, 1860-1930
Susan Weber

Catalogue of the Exhibition
Beatrice Quette

Appendix

A Technical Study of Early Chinese Enamels
Isabelle Biron and Beatrice Quette

Bibliography

Index

Photographic Credits
Contributors
Terese Tse Bartholomew
Curator Emeritus, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Isabelle Biron
Senior Research Scientist and Research Engineer, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees de France, Paris

Claudia Brown
Associate Professor of Art and Director of the Center for Asian Studies, Arizona State University

Danielle Elisseeff
Professor Emeritus, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales

Rose Kerr
Honorary Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

Odile Nouvel-Kammerer
Curator of Nineteenth-Century Collections, Musee des Arts decoratifs, Paris

Pengliang Lu
PhD candidate, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture

Béatrice Quette
Head of education at the Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris

Susan Weber
Founder and Director, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture
Zhang Rong
Director of the Library and Archives