A Preliminary Study On The Decorations Of Ding Ware And Some Related Problems Between Stamped Decorations And Silk Tapestry

Porcelain, as one of the representative works of Chinese splendid culture, notonly stands for the great skill of artisans, but also has been given the historicalsignificance of eras. The study of ancient porcelain is always an important part ofChinese ancient art and culture, especially the white porcelain of Ding ware, whichcan be called the shiniest and brightest jewel among them. Ding ware is one of thefive most famous kilns in the Song Dynasty and it took the lead in that period by itsunique decoration. Artisans of Ding ware fused social life, historical traditionalconcept and auspicious theme into the porcelain. The decoration melted kinds oftechniques together that including carved design, stamped design, fretwork, appliedfloral design, painted with gold lines, cut decoration and so on, then made use of thesepatterns on the porcelain. The patterns mainly contain the dragon, phoenix, fish, deer,lions, turtles-cranes, waterfowl, tree-peony, chrysanthemum, lotus, flowers of the fourseasons, pomegranate, day lily, antiques, children at play, etc. that referred to thedecoration methods of gold and silver ware, silk fabrics, stone carving in the Tang andSong Dynasties.Stamped decoration is the most brilliant among the decorations of Ding ware. Itbegan in the middle of Song Dynasty and mainly decorated in plates and bowls. Thelayout of the decoration is rigorous, and the most common theme is floral pattern, thenext is animal pattern. It owns the features that well arranged, clear lines and closedbut not random. The layout often uses winding, plucked branches or the othertechniques, and asks for symmetry and balance. At the same time, stampeddecorations reflect the super artistry from the beginning. Therefore many expertsinferred that there was a close relationship between the decoration of Ding ware andsilk tapestry of Dingzhou during the Song Dynasty. They hold the idea that maybe thepatterns of silk tapestry were transplanted into stamped decorations of Ding ware.This paper attempts to compare the patterns of silk tapestry in the Song Dynastyand Ding ware porcelain in the Song and Jin Dynasties, then analysis the connectionof pattern selection and decoration features in detail, and prove the conjecture ofprevious that the stamped decorations are similar to silk tapestry patterns. In addition, base on the relationship between the palace and the patterns, the author put forwardthe assumption that whether all patterns were came from the palace and finally make abrief description for the controversy about the ages of silk tapestry.