Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum

Yuan Dynasty Blue-and-White Porcelain from the Aurora Collection

Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain is a type of underglaze painted ceramic. Its emergence broke the Song dynasty's aesthetic tradition of prioritizing monochrome glazes, ushering in an era of polychrome development. Jingdezhen served as its production center, with a brief yet rapidly flourishing period during the mid-to-late Yuan dynasty. Renowned for its exquisite craftsmanship, it became a highlight of the ceramics market, supplying both domestic and overseas markets-primarily through export-as a key commodity in international trade. Following the late Yuan to early Ming period, these prestigious porcelains faded into obscurity, only to be rediscovered in the early 20th century, evolving into globally cherished cultural treasures.

As ancient artifacts remain dispersed worldwide, their reunion is a formidable challenge. The Aurora Museum is dedicated to assembling various damaged objects for research, and this exhibition features restored pieces from its collection, inviting audiences to rediscover the splendor of Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain.

The Distribution of Yuan Dynasty Blue-and-White Porcelain

Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain was exported abroad via both maritime and land routes, with maritime transport accounting for the vast majority of the volume. To the east, these sea routes reached Japan and the Ryukyu islands. To the west, they extended to Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, the Red Sea region, Syria, and Northern and Eastern Africa. To the south, they covered Southeast and South Asia. The land route followed the Silk Road westward, traversing Gansu, Mongolia, and Xinjiang to reach Central Asia, Iran, and beyond.

Multicultural Integration

The Yuan dynasty was established by the Mongols and maintained close ties with Central and Western Asia. Many foreigners settled in China, giving rise to a multiethnic society. Jingdezhen, situated within this multicultural milieu and established as China's premier hub of ceramics production, inherited longstanding craft traditions and cultural foundations. As blue-and-white porcelain was primarily produced for commercial sale, its forms and decorations were tailored to market demands. This led to the seamless integration of elements from steppe culture, Islamic culture, and indigenous Chinese culture into a unified visual language on blue-and-white porcelain.

Design Templates

The decorative motifs on Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain exhibit distinct period characteristics, with many designs seemingly drawn from standardized pattern templates. Animal and floral motifs emphasize dynamic composition through varied viewingangles, combining lateral, bird’s-eye, and worm’s-eye perspectives to create a vivid sense of three-dimensional movement. Decorativelayouts adapt to the vessel shape, featuring flat compositions,front-and back-side symmetrical arrangements, 360 degrees encircling patterns, or side-by-side scenes of distinct motifs.

Form-and-Decoration Design

Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain encompasses various functional vessel types such as vases, jars, ewers, bowls, cups, dishes, and yi vessels. Their shapes follow established structural conventions to fulfill practical needs, while surface decoration draws on popular themes of the period, carefully arranged to harmonize with the vessel’s proportions and contours. Given the abundance of available motifs, there is considerable flexibility in selecting primary and secondary decorative elements. Even vessels of the same shape can be adorned with distinct motif combinations, a phenomenon known as the “one-form, multiple-designs” principle.