Provenance: Private Collection, Alabang

ABOUT THE WORK

Celadon is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains. It originated in China, though the term is purely European, and celadon production later spread to other regions in Asia, such as Japan, Korea and Thailand. Eventually European potteries produced some pieces, but it was never a major element there. Finer pieces are in porcelain, but both the color and the glaze can be produced in stoneware and earthenware. Most of the earlier Chinese celadon is on the border of stoneware and porcelain, meeting the Chinese but not the European definitions of porcelain. Pieces made with a celadon glaze are themselves often referred to as "celadons." For many centuries, celadon wares were highly regarded by the Chinese Imperial court, before being replaced in fashion by painted wares, especially the new blue and white porcelain under the Yuan dynasty. The similarity of the color to jade, traditionally the most highly valued material in China, was a large part of its attraction. Celadon continued to be produced in China at a lower level, often with a conscious sense of reviving older styles. The celadon color is classically produced by firing a glaze containing a little iron oxide at a high temperature in a reducing kiln. The materials must be refined, as other chemicals can alter the color completely. Too little iron oxide causes a blue colour (sometimes a desired effect), and too much gives olive and finally black. The presence of other chemicals may have effects; titanium dioxide gives a yellowish tinge. The large celadon plates shown here were brought in by Chinese traders who came annually from Canton, now Guangdong, during the early months of the year, left their cargoes and returned the following year to pick up the native products bartered for their previous cargo. Porcelain, considered a valuable material, was often interred with the owner. These pieces, because of their size, must have belonged to an important native personage. The largest plate is incised at the cavetto with a line design of scrolls interspersed with leaves and flowers. The base of the plate is decorated with an inscribed diaper pattern of crosshatching with arcs outlined on each side. All the patterns are barely visible, having been heavily overlaid with glaze during the firing. The bottom of the plate has the characteristics of porcelain made in the Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368 AD), but the diaper pattern on the plate is one usually found in Ming Dynasty porcelain made a century later. The simplest piece was definitely excavated from a shipwreck and was also made during the Yuan Dynasty. It has a hairline crack and its glaze has been eroded by sand brushing against it due to wave action under the sea. It has a molded edge and a cavetto decorated with ‘finger strokes’, so called because the potter’s fingers were used to accomplish the design. The side at the bottom of the plate still has remnants of the coral formation that was once attached to the plate when it was excavated. The smallest plate was made during the Yuan Dynasty and has the best glaze among the lot. It is incised with a pattern of line scrolls on the lip, while the cavetto, decorated with ‘finger strokes’, is further ornamented with incised meandering scrolls. -Martin I. Tinio, Jr.