A Design Guideline for Applying Aesthetics in Chinese Traditional Novel to
Modern Tableware Design
by
Ying Zhao
A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of
Auburn University
in partial ful llment of the
requirements for the Degree of
Master of Industrial Design
Auburn, Alabama
December 12, 2011
Keywords: Cultural Design, Dream of the Red Chamber, Modern Tableware Design
Copyright 2011 by Ying Zhao
Approved by
Shu-Wen Tzeng, Chair, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Graphic Design
Tin Man Lau, Professor of Industrial and Graphic Design
Rich Britnell, Professor of Industrial and Graphic Design
Abstract
As designers, we not only consider the user?s physical and technological needs but we
also are aware of the user?s social and emotional needs. The consumer will appreciate a
product re ecting his/her own culture. Therefore, it was suggested that design should be
recognized in a speci c cultural development strategy.
This thesis is to study how to apply the traditional aesthetics of classical Chinese liter-
ature to the modern design of tableware.
Research is conducted to analyze the elements re ecting the cuisine culture in a certain
literature context and then the aesthetic elements are identi ed to apply to the tableware
design, which is consistent with modern consumers? aesthetics.
After the research, a set of guidelines is developed to design the modern tableware.
The tableware?s shape, proportion, texture, color, pattern, balance, repetition and materials
are considered in the context of the culture of the classic Chinese novel Dream in the Red
Chamber.
A sample work is built to show the e ciency of the guidelines of designing the tableware.
The deliverable of designing a set of sample tableware will include sketches and  nal physical
models.
The future of design in China hinges on creating winning innovations with a unique
cultural in uence. To balance the desire of cultural cohesion and the realities of the global
market, designers make objects and places that are very often attuned to the modest rituals
of daily life.
ii
Acknowledgments
I would like to express special gratitude to my advisor, Shu-Wen Tzeng, assistant profes-
sor, Department of Industrial and Graphic Design at Auburn University, for her instruction,
guidance, encouragement and patience in completion of the research and thesis. In particu-
lar, her suggestions, criticisms and materials greatly contributed to this thesis.
Thanks also to my advisory committee members, Prof. Tin Man Lau, Prof. Rich
Britnell and the professors and sta members in the Department of Industrial and Graphic
Design at Auburn University for their kindness and help through these two years.
I also need to acknowledge Prof. Gary Wagoner and the sta in the Department of Art
who helped me to build and  re my ceramics models. Thank you for all of the help, support
and friendship.
Finally, sincere thanks to my husband Guangyu Zou. He gave his greatest support
and encouragement to help me succeed in  nishing all the research work. Also, I thank my
parents, who poured enormous e ort into supporting my study during these years.
iii
Table of Contents
Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Need for Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.1 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.2 Culture and Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.3 Tableware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.4 Chinese Culture and Tableware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 Objectives of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.5 De nition of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6 Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7 Scope and Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.8 Procedure of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2 Identi cation of the Aesthetic Elements from Dream of the Red Chamber . . . . 18
2.1 Introduction to Dream of the Red Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2 Procedure of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3 Finding of Implications of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.3.1 Ding Ware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
iv
2.3.2 Ru Ware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.3.3 Guan Ware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.3.4 Enameled Ware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3 The design Guidelines of Cultural Aesthetic Elements Integrated in Tableware
Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.1 Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.2 Proportion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.3 Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.4 Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3.5 Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.6 Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3.7 Repetition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.8 The Required Performance Criteria of Tableware Design . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4 Design Guideline Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.1 Design guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.2 Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.3 Concept ideation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.4 Idea Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.4.1 Foam Mock-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.4.2 Mold making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.4.3 Slip casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.4.4 Glazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
4.5 Design Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
v
List of Figures
1.1 New Balance sports shoes with Peking Opera mask design . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 Lying chair designed by Daren Hong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Ju Ware Bowl in the Shape of a Lotus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1 Chinese history timeline from Song to Qing Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.2 Stepped saggars showing the method of packing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.3 Dish 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.4 Ding ware basin. Song Dynasty, 11-12 century. Diameter: 24.5cm . . . . . . . . 51
2.5 Henan black ware tea bowl. Northern Song/Jin dynasty, 11-12th century. Diam-
eter 9cm, height 4.4cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.6 Pro les and drawing of decoration on Ding ware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.7 Ding ware trilobate dish. Northern Song dynasty, 10th century. Diameter 13.4cm,
height 2.9cm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.8 Ding ware prunus vase. Northern Song dynasty, 11-12th century. Diameter
18.4cm, height 36.5cm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.9 Ding ware bowl and dish. Jin dynasty, 12-13th century. Diameters 20.2cm, height
21.3 cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
vi
2.10 Ding ware large bowl. Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century. Diameter 28.6
cm, height 14.5 cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.11 Ding ware large jar. Northern Song dynasty, 11-12th century. Height 28.5 cm. . 58
2.12 Ru ware cupstand. Northern Song dynasty, about 1086-1106.Diameter 16.5 cm,
height 5.8 cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.13 Ru ware bowl. Northern Song dynasty, early 12th century. Diameter 17cm,
height 7cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.14 Ding ware prunus vaseRu ware bowl-stand. Northern Song dynasty, early 12th
century. Diameter 17cm, height 6.5cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.15 Guan ware vase. Late Southern Song early Yuan dynasty, about 1250-1300.
Diameter 8.6cm, height 13.4cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.16 Guan ware jar. Late Southern Song early Yuan dynasty, about 1250-1300. Di-
ameter 12.5cm, height 9.9cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.17 Guan ware lobed dish. Southern Song dynasty, 13th century. Diameter 16.8cm,
height 3.9cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
2.18 Guan ware incense burner. Southern Song dynasty, 13 century. Diameter 16.5cm,
height 9cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
2.19 Guan ware bowl. Yuan dynasty. Diameter 17.8cm, height 16.3cm. . . . . . . . . 68
2.20 Archaic bronze gui vessels. Western Zhou dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.21 Part of history timeline in the Qing Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.22 Large dish. Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period (1723-35). Diameter
50.8cm, height 8.9cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
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2.23 Vase. 1930s. Diameter 8.8cm, height 14.7cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.24 Teapot and cup. Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period (1723-35). . . 76
2.25 Pink lotus bowl with  oral brocade. Qing dynasty, Qianlong reign(1736-1795).
Diameter 15.9cm, height 7.6cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
2.26 Bowl. Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period (1725-35). Diameter
12.7cm, height 6.3cm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.1 Shape analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.2 Pro les of the plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.3 Pro les of the saucers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.4 Proportion analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.5 Texture analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.6 Color analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.7 Pattern analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.8 Motifs on the wares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.9 Religious motifs on the wares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.10 Auspice cultural motifs on the wares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.11 Border decoration on the wares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.12 Balance analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.13 Repetition analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
viii
4.1 Design process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.2 Form concept development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
4.3 Floral pattern concept development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
4.4 Animal pattern concept development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.5 Concept development for plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
4.6 Final solution for plate design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.7 Computer model for the cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.8 Foam mock-up for the cups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.9 Plaster mold for the plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.10 Plaster mold for the cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.11 Carved pattern on the plaster mold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.12 Pour the slip until the mold is full . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4.13 Pour excess slip out from the mold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.14 Take the mold apart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.15 Trim surplus porcelain along the seam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
4.16 Casting mold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
4.17 Glaze testing on slabs or tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4.18 Glaze testing on wares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
ix
4.19 Desert plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.20 The  ower relief motif on desert plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.21 The  ower relief motif on dinner plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
4.22 The cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
4.23 The tableware design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
x
List of Tables
2.1 Clothes description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2 Ornament description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3 Tableware description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.4 Food description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.5 Furniture description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.6 Daily-use items description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.7 Decor items description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.8 Architecture description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.1 Shape description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.2 Proportion description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.3 Texture description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.4 Color description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.5 Pattern description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.6 Balance Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3.7 Repetition description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.8 The required performance criteria of tableware design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
3.9 The appropriation rate of red colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
xi
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Problem Statement
There is no doubt that design plays an important role in cultural identity as designers
gradually realize that global design is not good as it was before [1].
One important trend that has become more important in the last decades is Western
designers? increasing interest in Eastern cultures. Thanks to globalization, Eastern designers
are more familiar with Western design knowledge and they apply these design styles into
their products. For the Western designers, the Oriental cultures seem quite mysterious.
With the emerging oriental market expanding, more consumers need to be considered. One
caveat: No product exists as a global one. Even Coca-Cola utilizes more than 80 formulas in
the world market. Therefore, each product design needs local development. In high potential
emerging markets, the products need to be adapted and localized to the needs and wants
of local consumers. It is especially true as colors, symbols and values have quite di erent
meanings in the foreign markets.
Compared to the Eastern designers, the designers in the Western countries have little
knowledge of how to apply these oriental elements to their products. The culture of China is
one of the world?s oldest and most complex cultures. The problem is how to  nd an e ective
means to learn and understand Chinese culture. Furthermore, designers must decide how
to design products that attune the modern Western rituals of daily life and coincide with
Chinese aesthetics. There are many di erent means to learn a speci c culture, which include
music, architecture, literature, arts and religion. Compared to the other aspects of culture,
some famous novels have been translated into di erent languages so that even foreigners in
1
Western countries can learn the culture through reading. With more cultural knowledge, the
Western designer can also incorporate the oriental cultural element in the product design.
1.2 Need for Study
According to Erskine Children, a director of the United Nations Development Program
in the UN, \The designer has a far more pivotal role than is generally realized. The design
profession provides the essential social link in the chain." Culture has been all encompassing.
\This is how our ancestors in all civilizations everywhere understood culture. They didn?t
separate culture from the rest of life and human endeavour. Creativity and productivity were
mutually reinforcing."[1] Nowadays designers have begun to understand the role of design
in culture and to develop the method and process such as ethnography, user-observation,
scenario-based design, and the like for applying culture factors on design. Besides the trend
that cultural elements are integrated into the product design, design is also an e ective means
for the company?s image promotion, or even a country?s. For example, rigor for German,
 air for Italian, compactness and cuteness for Japanese, and tail  ns for American. Design
becomes an e ective method for companies and even for countries to survive the  ercer
global competition.
Against this background, designers realize the signi cance of the dialogue between East-
ern and Western stylistic elements. Particularly, Asian culture plays an in uential role as
design has deliberately been removed from the pop culture. Designers currently gain more
inspiration from the traditional Asian arts and crafts for the main living room accessories
design.
The characteristics of humanity in a certain historic background are re ected in the
product since the products are created and designed by the human beings to express the
information of a speci c culture. Aspiration for cultural cohesion and the facts of the global
market are balanced in the way that products are designed to attune to the modern rituals
of daily life [2].
2
1.3 Literature Review
The review of literature examines issues associated with and relevant to understanding
the current state of cultural design and tableware design.
Understanding the relationship between culture and design, the de nition of tableware
and the signi cance of tableware design will help place the research into perspective.
1.3.1 Culture
Culture has several di erent meanings. Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn listed 164
de nitions of culture [3]. Nowadays, three basic de nitions of culture are commonly used:
 Excellence of taste in the  ne arts and humanities.
 An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon
the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning.
 The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institu-
tion, organization or group.
In anthropology culture has two meanings:
 The evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and
to act imaginatively and creatively.
 The distinct ways that people living in di erent parts of the world classi ed and rep-
resented their experiences, and acted creatively.
Aesthetic preferences are di erent for the individual and society as a whole.
Hofstede and Robison build models about culture  lters. If social and cultural factors
give particular meaning and value to sensory experience, it is helpful to develop a clear
understanding of the concept of culture. According to Hofstede, culture is,
3
\The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group
or category of people from another. Culture is learned, not inherited. It derives from one?s
social environment, not from one?s genes. Culture should be distinguished from human nature
on the one side, and from an individual?s personality on the other" [4].
Hofstede?s model suggested three layers: Those values speci c to an individual; those
speci c to a group or category; and those which are universal, i.e. part of our human
nature. He also discussed how cultural di erences represent in di erent ways, from a symbol
implying the most super cial way to values manifesting the deepest meaning of culture. He
described values as broad tendencies to prefer certain states of a airs over others. Sensory
perceptions are given particular signi cance through social and cultural values [5]. Within
the overall discipline of psychology, social psychology is unique in that it deals with several
di erent domains of analysis: The individual or intrapersonal, the interpersonal, the group
and societal levels. Societal explanations are concerned with interactions between individuals
and how these are in uenced or constrained by cultural expectations or ideologies [1].
Since aesthetics are a relative value determined by the understanding or context, visual
symbolism is not universal. Perception, recognition and acceptance of an object are deter-
mined by the context in which it is used and by the natural and cultural conditioning of the
user. From the view of industrial design, this study focuses on the second and third level
that concern the speci c values to a group and part of human nature, from the super cial
symbols to the deepest value.
1.3.2 Culture and Design
1.3.2.1 Culture and Design
The characteristics of humanity in a certain historic background re ect in the product
since products are created and designed by human beings and they present a special culture.
The culture aspects of products re ect the di erent social aspects, from politics, economy,
4
technology, arts, religion and culture [6]. However, in the research of culture, it is true that
special meanings are accurate in the everyday experience.
Designers need to consider the consumers? social and emotional needs as well as the
physical and technological requirements. With the development of global markets, product
designers must be more sensitive to the users? social and emotional needs. People in di erent
cultures respond to di erent signals since people have their own visual code, aspirations and
values. According to James Woodhuysen of the Henley Centre for Forecasting, \We must
research users, watch them, listen to them, understand them... this is going to be very
important for the future of design".[6]
1.3.2.2 Chinese Culture and Design
The Western world has been strongly in uenced by Oriental Design since the Italian
Renaissance. Throughout the former historic periods, Oriental design continued in uencing
the Western world and this trend is still going strong. Oriental Design has timeless appeal
for its highly artistic hand craftsmanship and works of art. Now Westerners often select the
accessories, patterns and accents that have the Oriental feeling.For example, the large-scale
frames of imperial Chinese beds are topped with crown cornices, on which pagoda-like shapes
are fantastically carved. Inspired by these beds, European and American formal interiors
incorporated the long draperies surrounding Chinese beds.
With the rapid development of the globalization, China is losing its special culture char-
acteristics. Within an increasingly globalized system of design, production and consumption,
the research, design and engineering of products are mainly controlled by the outsides forces,
and for outside markets. For the domestic market, the product design is merely the low-value
imitation of existing products. Now the local design is playing an imitative role. The  nal
consequence is not originality in design, but a culture of the copy [7]. For instance, in the
mobile phone market, the buyers can  nd the unmistakably familiar cell phone, which has
sleek lines, touch-screen keyboard and even the logo on the back. At the  rst glance, it will
5
be recognized as an Apple iPhone, but upon closer inspection, it turns out to be a Hi-Phone.
Other cheap look-alikes, the counterfeit Nokia, Motorola and Samsung phones, which make
no bones about being knocko s, can also be found nearby.
Chinese designers are gradually realizing the importance of the uniqueness of product
design and are developing a graphic language that can both maintain China?s traditions and
incorporate international in uences. This search for a distinct graphic language has been
undertaken thanks to the distinctive qualities of Chinese cultural traditions.
1.3.2.3 The Application of Chinese Culture to Product Design
The culture of China is one of the world?s oldest and most complex cultures, which
includes language, mythology and spirituality, literature, music, arts, martial arts, architec-
ture, cuisine and leisure. Nowadays, designers try to gain more inspiration from Chinese
traditional culture elements into their product design.
From the arts view, Chinese traditional decorations  rst appeared in the mind of Chinese
designers. For instance, designers modernize the traditional decoration forms such as Dragon,
Monkey Sun, the character in Journey to the West, Chinese calligraphy and the Peking Opera
Mask. They incorporate these traditional decorations into sports shoes design [8] (Figure
1.1).
From the view of spirituality, Confucianism is one of many Chinese ethical and philo-
sophical systems, which is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and
quasi-religious thought [9]. Some designers try to make use of the old concept of Confu-
cianism for domestic electrical appliance designs [10].Confucianism states the whole society
consists of families, instead of individuals. Therefore, the design style of domestic electrical
appliances re ects diversity, dynamics and complexity of social structure.
Yiyou Design Company, for example, de nes  ve elements that are most representative
in Chinese culture, re nement, glory, nation, folk custom and Buddhism. By analyzing the
traditional Chinese artworks that embody the spirit of Chinese culture, designers obtain the
6
Figure 1.1: New Balance sports shoes with Peking Opera mask design
essential elements for the product form, function, color arrangement and material selection
[15].
From the view of craftsmanship that plays an important role in the traditional culture
of each country, modern designers try to build a craft-based method for modern design.
The Scandinavians? design had focused on a socially oriented, democratic approach toward
design, linked to their longstanding craft traditions. Sweden?s craft-based approach toward
design had developed through the  rst half of the twentieth century. Danish design combines
the country?s existing craft traditions with a new, international-oriented marketing approach
and an architectural attitude toward furniture design[12]. In China, furniture designers also
try to combine the excellent craft tradition and ancient simple style with the Chinese modern
furniture design (Figure 1.2)[13].
Designs from the Orient can enrich and add charm and mystique to today?s product
design. The oriental cultural elements give depth to the product design. This novel, exquisite
craftsmanship and beauty give the products a high-status acceptance [11].
7
Figure 1.2: Lying chair designed by Daren Hong
1.3.3 Tableware
Consumers in di erent cultures may have a di erent response to speci c product types.
This sensitivity has a relationship with the consumers? age, gender and the cultural sig-
ni cance of the product category. Compared with the recent high-tech digital products,
furniture and cooking utensils have more culturally speci c meanings. The scope of research
narrows down the relationship between cooking utensils and culture.
1.3.3.1 The De nition of Tableware
Cuisine includes a series of cooking traditions and practices, which are associated with a
speci c culture. Regional cuisine is often named after the place where its culture began. The
ingredients presented in the food primarily in uence the regional cuisine, which are available
locally or through trade. Regional cooking laws also have a strong in uence on the cuisine.
A traditional cuisine is a coherent tradition of practices accumulated from daily life over a
long period of time in a speci c cultural region [14].
Tableware includes the dishes, glassware, and cutlery (knives, forks, spoons, chopsticks
and so on) used to set a table for eating a meal. The nature, variety, and number of objects
vary from culture to culture, and may vary from meal to meal.
8
Especially, ceramic tableware is cataloged into daily-use and traditional tableware. The
daily use dinnerware is usually inexpensive and commonly used and the traditional dinner-
ware is usually porcelain, hand-painted, and highly decorated.
1.3.3.2 The Signi cance of Tableware Design
The way we eat and the tableware we use on the tables re ect the most fundamental
cultural rituals. Table manners and tableware tell a story about us, the cultures we belong to,
the economic status we have and the sense of our style. For instance, sushi, a Japanese dish,
consists of cooked vinegar rice topped with seafood ingredients. To keep with the aesthetic
and taste qualities of this cuisine, sushi is traditionally served on minimalist Japanese-style,
geometric, mono- or duo-tone wood or lacquer plates. Tableware design also reveals the
technology and the industrial processes of an age and the material in vogue [14].
In the modern world, basic items such as cutlery and glassware are needed in every home.
For this reason, many great architects and designers, artists and sculptors are attracted by
the challenge of designing tableware.
The medium o ers the designers more opportunities to explore creative expression,
material technology and cultural change. In addition to the great designers and architects
who are interested in tableware design, there are some enlightened and regressive industrial
companies that are engaged in the continual re nement of production techniques to balance
the function and aesthetics of tableware design.
Several manufacturers have enjoyed success in the story of twentieth-century tableware
for their versatility and patronage of leading designers. Their names are well-known for the
good design and will be familiar to anyone interested in good design for the home: Alessi of
Italy, Arabia of Finland, Orrefors of Sweden, Rosenthal of Germany, Wedgewood of Britain
and Georg Jensen of Denmark.
9
These companies? products are unique for the sense of national identity and the quality,
which di erentiates them from their competitors. They all made in uential contributions to
the evolution of design and the progress of modern manufacturing [14].
1.3.4 Chinese Culture and Tableware
So far, from the literature review of other scholars? working, it is found that the research
area of the relationship between Chinese literature and modern design is yet to be developed.
Therefore, the research of this thesis will explore the method of how to apply the aesthetics
in traditional Chinese literature to modern tableware design.
1.3.4.1 The Relationship Between Cuisine and Ceramic Tableware
Chinese ceramic tableware is an art form that is de ned as  ne compact pottery. Chinese
porcelain is famous for its variety, beauty and the wonderful skill of the Chinese craftsmen,
which has arisen from centuries of tradition. It is also distinctive for its decorative genius
and its natural color sense. The merits and beauty of porcelain have always been recognized
in its jade-like appearance, its musical ring, and its lightness and re nement [16].
Figure 1.3: Ju Ware Bowl in the Shape of a Lotus
10
There are two views to consider during the design of ceramic tableware. One is the
relationship between food and tableware. The beauty of ceramic tableware lies in the form,
which represents the features of food. Beautiful tableware not only has a speci c aesthetic
appearance, but it is also complementary to the food. The other is from the relationship
between culture and tableware. For instance, materials are selected which have particular
meaning in this special cultural region; the features of local architecture may be integrated
into the design of tableware. The consumer psychology in one culture, which is quite di erent
from the others, should be studied so that the tableware satis es the psychological need of
consumers [16].
Inspiration comes from looking at the world with a new perspective. Diverse methods
can be employed to create and collect ideas, including photography, drawing, listening, paint-
ing and writing. Then designers should broadly understand the collected source materials[17].
Compared to the other inspiration sources, writing is a distinctive approach which visualizes
the words on the paper. Through reading a novel, di erent designers could gain di erent
inspiration and imagination from the same novel.
1.3.4.2 The Application of Chinese Traditional Literature to Modern Tableware
Chinese literature spans thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court
archives to the mature  ctional novel that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the
masses of literate Chinese.
The Four Great Classical Novels are the four novels commonly counted by scholars to be
the greatest and most in uential of classical Chinese  ction. The Four Great Classical Novels
are considered to be the pinnacle of Chinese achievement in classical novels, in uencing
the creation of many stories, plays, movies, games, and other forms of entertainment. In
chronological order, they are: Romance of the Three Kingdoms (San guo yan yi), Water
Margin (Shui hu zhuan), Journey to the West (Si you ji) and Dream of the Red Chamber
(Hong lou meng).
11
As one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature, Dream of the Red
Chamber displays the grandeur and exquisiteness of its artistic structure. Literary scholar
Dr. Kam-ming Wong has described the novel as \So rich and complex in its depiction of
traditional Chinese society and culture that more than one scholar has characterized it as an
encyclopaedia of Chinese civilization "[20].The research of this paper assumes that this novel
is a microcosm of the world of its time. Therefore, this novel provides precise and detailed
observations of the life of 18th-century Chinese aristocracy so that the designers can gain
precise and detailed information of aesthetic elements in Chinese traditional culture. For
instance, Dream of the Red Chamber is remarkable not only for its huge cast of characters
and psychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social
structures typical of 18th-century Chinese aristocracy. So it is not surprising that the reader
could  nd many descriptions about Chinese traditional cuisine and tableware in the novel.
Therefore, it is assumed that designers will be inspired from studying and analyzing the
traditional aesthetics in the classical novels of Chinese literature. Balancing the desire for
cultural cohesion and the realities of the global market, designers make products that are
very often attuned to the modern rituals of daily life.
Therefore, the research focuses on how to apply the traditional aesthetics in the classical
novels of Chinese literature to the modern design of tableware, which is consistent with the
rituals of Chinese daily life and the aesthetics of modern China.
1.4 Objectives of Study
The objective of this thesis is to provide the designer with a framework to identify the
aesthetic elements in Dream of the Red Chamber and further apply these  ndings to current
daily-use tableware design. The following is a summary of what this research study will
entail:
 De ne the methodology to identify the aesthetic elements in Dream of the Red Cham-
ber, which inspires modern design of daily-use tableware.
12
 Identify the aesthetic elements of daily-use tableware in Dream of the Red Chamber
from the shapes, colors, decorations to the proportion.
 Develop design guidelines based on the aesthetic analysis and ergonomic and manu-
facturing considerations.
 Execute the design implementation to show validation of the design framework and
whether the design  ts the consumers? aesthetic appreciation.
1.5 De nition of Terms
Aesthetics - a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste,
and with the creation and appreciation of beauty.
Culture - The patterns, traits, and products which exemplify the expression of a par-
ticular period, class, community, or population
Ding Ware - A white-bodied porcellanous ware usually covered with an ivory glaze
and sometimes adorned with carved or molded designs. Its name derives from the Dingzhou
kilns in Heibei province.
Eastern - the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of \the
East", or geographically, the Eastern Culture.
Famille rose - An overglaze enamel palette employed on Chinese porcelains from the
 rst quarter of the eighteenth country and characterized by the use of pink enamel derived
from colloidal gold.
Famille verte - An overglaze enamel palette employed on Chinese porcelains from the
late seventeenth century and characterized by the use of transparent greens and iron red.
Glaze - A coating of colored, opaque, or transparent material applied to ceramics before
 ring.
13
Guan Ware - An o cial ware of celadon type made during the Southern Song dynasty
at kilns in Hangzhou and imitated at the Longquan kilns. Guan also describes a round-
shouldered jar with a wide mouth used as a wine container.
Modern design - Modern design is part of the larger movement of modernism, the
deliberate departure from tradition and the use of innovative forms of expression that dis-
tinguish many styles in the arts of the 20th century.
Porcelain - A white, hard, vitri ed, and translucent ceramic, which is high- red
(+12800 degree) and usually contains a mixture of kaolin (china clay) and petuntse (china
stone).
Proportion - A relationship between things or parts of things with respect to compar-
ative magnitude, quantity, or degree
Ru Ware - A  ne rare stoneware with a blue-grey glaze made for the court at the
beginning of the twelfth century at Qingliangsi, Henan province.
Saggar - A  re-clay container in which  ne ceramics are placed during  ring. The
saggar ensures a consistent atmosphere and o ers protection from kiln debris and direct
 ames.
Tableware - Tableware includes dishes, glassware, and cutlery (knives, forks, spoons,
chopsticks and so on) used to set a table for eating a meal.
Western - the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of \the
West", or geographically the Western nations, including the Americas, Europe, Australia,
New Zealand, and South Africa.
1.6 Assumptions
First, consumers? response to speci c product types varies among cultures. This sen-
sitivity tends to be related to the age and cultural signi cance of the product category.
Furniture and cooking utensils are far more culturally speci c than more recent high-tech
sectors. The scope of research is narrowed down to the relationship between cooking utensils
14
and culture. Unlike other consumer products, especially the digital products, which have
been strongly in uenced by Western design style, the functions and styles of the tableware
in di erent cultures still keep their unique characteristics in the aspects of both functions
and forms.
Secondly, it is assumed that the target users of the guidelines include both designers
in China and designers in Western countries who are interested in the oriental culture and
could also follow the guidelines to design modern daily-use tableware in the context of Chinese
literature.
Third, oriental style has long cast a spell over the Western world with its air of elegant
exoticism and mystery. Elements of oriental design style have been incorporated into Western
style techniques for centuries. For Western people, this centuries-old theme continues to
captivate from classic to contemporary design[18].
1.7 Scope and Limits
The scope of this research is aimed at designing modern daily-use tableware in the
context of Dream of the Red Chamber. The methodology developed in this thesis does not
limit itself to a speci c novel, so that the designers could also design other modern products
inspired by other traditional novels in a speci c cultural literature. The primary research is
limited to the speci c novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
The methodology developed from this thesis, however, is not limited to modern daily-use
tableware design. The research is merely an example to demonstrate how modern product
design can be inspired by traditional literature as long as the function and styles of the
product itself can still keep unique characteristics in the distinct cultural areas.
The scope of individuals targeted by the methodology developed includes all the design-
ers who are interested in the oriental culture.
15
1.8 Procedure of Study
The following procedures and methods were used to conduct the study:
Step 1. Literature Review
 Research what other scholars have done in this area
 Identify the area of my research
 Study the methodology that other scholars have used to solve similar problems
 Identify the methodology that could be applied in my research
Step 2. Analyze the aesthetic elements in a novel
 Library & internet research
 Study the convention of writing analysis of the novel
 Identify the convention of writing analysis
 Read the novel
 Collect all the cultural aesthetic elements presented in the novel
Step 3. Based on the description of the daily-use tableware in the novel, analyze the
aesthetic features of the tableware
 Shape
 Proportion
 Texture
 Color
 Pattern
16
 Balance
 Repetition
Step 4. Based on the research data, develop the framework to design the modern
tableware
 Study the functions of the tableware
 Study the ergonomic factors of the tableware
 Study the texture, materials and manufacturing technology of tableware
 Study the form, proportion, colors and ornaments of tableware
Step 5. Apply the design guideline to the sample work
 Design tableware based on the design guideline to construct a set of tableware as an
example
Step 6. Conclusion
1.9 Summary
Many issues relevant to the design guidelines of cultural tableware design, such as un-
derstanding the culture and cultural designs, the de nition of tableware, and the relationship
between Chinese culture and tableware, have been documented. The literary review sup-
ports the direction for an investigation into cultural aesthetic elements from Dream of Red
ChamberDintegrated in tableware design.
17
Chapter 2
Identi cation of the Aesthetic Elements from Dream of the Red Chamber
2.1 Introduction to Dream of the Red Chamber
Two hundred years have passed since its  rst appearance, and yet Dream of the Red
Chamber is still a hot topic of conversation among Chinese people, and criticism and research
concerning it have crystallized into a specialized branch of study, whimsically referred to as
\Redology". Dream of the Red Chamber is rich in ideas and concepts. It is a multi-faceted
world of art into which the more one delves the more one  nds [19].
The author of Dream of the Red Chamber is Cao Xueqin (1715?-1763?). For three
successive generations, a period of some 60 years, his ancestors had held the post of Tex-
tile Commissioner in Jiangning. His paternal great grandmother, surnamed Sun, had been
nursemaid to the infant who was later to become the Kangxi emperor. His grandfather, Cao
Yin, had been the future emperor?s study companion and close attendant, accompanying
him when he came to the throne on four of his six inspection tours of the south, which
was a singular honor. After the death of Cao Yin, the family, under the leadership of Cao
Xueqin?s father, Cao Fu, continued to enjoy the emperor?s favour, but when the Yongzheng
emperor ascended the throne, Cao Fu was removed from his o ce and punished on charges
of  nancial mismanagement and incompetence in the management of courier stations. The
family property was con scated, and the Cao?s halcyon days came to an end.
Dream of the Red Chamber charts the course of prosperity and decline of an aristocratic
family. It is a tragedy of love and marriage.The literary merit of Dream of the Red Chamber
is also displayed in the grandness and exquisiteness of its artistic structure. The novel is a
microcosm of the world of its time. Dream of the Red Chamber is an encyclopaedia novel [19].
Centered on an aristocratic family, it unrolls a panorama of social history. Every grade and
18
station of Chinese society of that time, from an imperial consort to peddlers and messenger
boys, are presented in a true-to-life fashion.
The novel also provides a wealth of details concerning aristocratic households in those
days, garden architecture, the equipage of carriages, clothing and ornaments, customs and
etiquette, food and drink, medicines, etc. Indeed, the cultural reference content of Dream of
the Red Chamber is of a kind rarely seen in the history of world literature.
2.2 Procedure of Analysis
The inspiration is not necessarily straightforward. Often, time is needed to seek inspi-
ration and disparate sources are widely searched. Inspiration comes in many di erent forms,
from many areas such as architecture, clothes, ornament, the possibilities are endless.
The  rst step is to explore the areas, when reading the novel, which will help you to
move forward. This is just the beginning so you should not commit to a particular source
of inspiration. Before arriving at the  nal form, a number of di erent subjects should be
considered. It is better to have varied source material as long as the study is in-depth and
useful.
After reading the whole novel, the descriptions about daily household items are catego-
rized into several groups, including clothes, ornaments, tableware, food, furniture, daily-use
items, decor items and architecture.
There are 151 descriptions of clothes, 36 about ornaments, 55 about tableware, 59
about food, 13 about furniture, 9 about daily-use items, 24 about decor items and 6 about
architecture. The descriptions related to clothes, ornament, tableware, food, furniture, daily-
use item, decor item and architecture are separately listed from Table 2.1 through Table 2.8.
19
Table 2.1: Clothes description
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes Jacket
Her close- tting red satin jacket was embroidered with
gold butter ies and  owers.
A honey-colored padded jacket.
The pale grey silk padded jacket.
A dark green jacket.
A bright pink silk jacket.
A silver-red jacket.
A pale-white embroidered fur-lined jacket.
A scarlet linen jacket.
A scarlet jacket.
A red crepe inner jacket.
A deep green satin jacket lined with sheepskin.
The scarlet jacket.
The warm sable jacket.
A pale blue satin jacket.
A cerise padded jacket.
A red crepe inner jacket.
An ermine-lined peach-red silk tapestry jacket inset with
a hundred-bead design.
A dark green satin jacket lined with sheepskin.
A padded red silk jacket.
A short lined satin jacket a patchwork of dark purple,
blue and jade-colored squares.
Continued on next page
20
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes
Jacket
A dark green satin jacket.
A red archer?s jacket, embroidered with golden butter ies
and  owers.
A yellowish green archer?s jacket embroidered with ser-
pents and lined with white fox-fur.
A fox-fur archer?s jacket.
An archer?s jacket embroidered with white serpents.
A red archer?s jacket embroidered with golden dragons
and lined with fox-fur.
A black satin sleeveless jacket with silk borders.
A blue satin sleeveless jacket with silk borders.
A long, sleeveless checked jacketed with dark silk borders.
A sleeveless black satin jacket.
A lined blue silk sleeveless jacket.
A black satin sleeveless jacket.
A rose-red sleeveless jacket lined with brown and snow-
weasel fur.
Tunic
A pale grey plain silk tunic.
A narrow-sleeved, none to new yellowish green satin tunic
lined with white squirrel, with fur-lined cu s and collar,
which was embroidered with dragons in gold thread and
colored silks.
A blue crepe tunic lined with a curly sheepskin.
Gown The purple velvet gown lined with fox-fur.
Continued on next page
21
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes
Gown
A bright green gown lined with white squirrel.
A purple woolen gown.
A French blue gown lined with white squirrel.
A new lilac blue linen gown.
A gown of blue velvet buttoned down the middle.
Coat
An ermine coat lined with grey squirrel.
An otter waist coat.
A black satin coat lined with squirrel.
A the fox-fur-lined coat of turquoise silk tapestry inset
with eight circular designs.
The black fox-fur coat.
His brown velvet archer?s coat lined with fox fur, a scarlet
felt jacket embroidered with gold thread. Its turquoise
satin border was fringed with tassels.
A turquoise fringed coat of Japanese satin with a raised
pattern of  owers in eight bunches.
A fringed turquoise sable coat.
Stomacher
A white silk stomacher lined with red, which she was
embroidering with mandarin ducks at play among some
lotus. The lotus  owers were pink, the leaves green, and
the ducks a medley of colors.
Underclothes
The green linen underclothes.
The red silk underclothes.
Shirt A silver-red linen shirt.
Continued on next page
22
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes
Cloak A crimson camlet cloak which buttoned in front.
Cape
Her turquoise cape, lined with white squirrel, was inset
with designs in colored silk.
A turquoise cape lined with grey squirrel, inset with de-
signs.
The black satin cape.
A  ne coir cape.
A scarlet woolen cape.
A hooded scarlet woolen cape.
A crimson silk cape lined with white fox-fur.
A red cape of wool or satin.
A red cape of satin.
A pale purple woolen cape embroidered with  ower de-
sign.
Robe
A white robe embroidered with zigzag wave patterns and
 ve-clawed dragons.
Hood
The dark sable hood.
The crimson hood.
A big cape with a grey squirrel-fur hood.
A scarlet woolen hood with a gosling-yellow applique of
cloud designs and a golden lining.
Collar A big sable collar.
Continued on next page
23
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes
Bodice
She had on a tight- tting bodice with a bold border and
rows of long buttons and loops in front, over which she
had tied a node to a new dark green sash.
Trousers
The glimpsed dark green glowered satin trousers with a
 ower pattern.
The glossy dark green silk trousers embroidered with
 owers.
The  owered green silk lined-trousers.
The green black-dotted satin trousers.
The bright pink trousers with a  oral design.
The green trousers.
A pair of blood-red trousers.
The pomegranate-red trousers with  oral designs.
Pants The red pants.
Breeches Her bright pink satin breeches were lined with fox fur.
Skirt
Her skirt of verdancy crepe was patterned with  owers.
A skirt of crimson foreign crepe lined with snow-weasel
fur.
A skirt of leek-yellow silk.
A white silk damask skirt.
A white silk skirt.
A leek-green padded skirt embroidered with colored silk
and gold thread.
A pale green skirt.
Continued on next page
24
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes
Skirt
A white silk skirt.
A red skirt.
A pink embroidered silk padded skirt of the kind worn
by lady Yang.
A sapphire blue embroidered padded skirt.
A white skirt with dark designs.
A sapphire blue embroidered padded skirt.
Boot
The court boots were of black satin with white soles.
The red boots lined with lambskin and inset with a gold-
thread cloud-design applique.
Her boots were of green leather.
The small tiger-head battle boots decorated with multi-
colored curling clouds.
The white socks and thick-soled boots.
The turquoise boots.
Shoes The thick-soled scarlet shoes.
Slippers
The slippers with butter y and  ower designs.
The red slippers.
The red slippers.
Her new embroidered red slippers.
Socks
The black-dotted socks with brocade borders.
The white socks.
The green socks.
The cotton socks embroidered with gold thread.
Continued on next page
25
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes
Hat
A snow-hat.
A rattan hat.
Cap
A princely silver-winged cap with white tassels.
A sable cap in the shape of a crouching hare.
Sash
A white silk sash.
A willow-green sash.
She had on a tight- tting bodice with a bold border and
rows of long buttons and loops in front, over which she
had tied a node to a new dark green sash.
\You?ve nothing to do anyway, dear sister, so do make
them for me." \You?re asking the impossible," protested
Xiren with a smile,\ let her  rst do a couple of the kind
you need most." \And which are those?" asked Yinger.
\Nets to hold fans, scented pouches, or sashes?" \Yes,"
said Baoyu. \One for a sash would be nice". \For
what color sash?" asked Yinger. \Scarlet," said Baoyu.
\A black or turquoise net would make a good contrast,
then". \What would match a dark green one?" \That
would go well with peach-pink". \All right. Do me one
also in peach-pink and another in leek-green". \What
design would you like?" \How many do you know?"
\Incense-stick, ladder, lozenge, double squares, chains,
plum-blossom and willow-catkins."
A yellowish green silk sash.
Continued on next page
26
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Clothes
Sash
A colored tasseled palace sash with clusters of designs.
A sash embroidered with many-colored butter ies.
Girdle A green girdle.
Tassel
\Of course, cousin!" Bauyu clapped his hands in ap-
proval. \I?d forgotten that. But what color would
be best?" \Nothing too nondescript would do," said
Baochai. \But crimson would clash, yellow wouldn?t
stand out well enough, and black would be too drab.
I suggest you get some golden thread and plait it with
black-beaded thread to make a net. That would look
handsome".
The pea-green tassels attached to her skirt.
Cord A silk cord of  ve colors.
Belt
A green and gold plaited belt with double rings.
A long-tasseled colored butter y belt.
A red leather belt studded with green jade.
A silver belt set with pearls.
Her knots of clove and her hibiscus belt.
Accessories
Antimacassar
The black-dotted antimacassars.
Below the kang facing the west wall were four armchairs,
their covers of bright red dotted with pink  owers.
Bolster
The red silk back-rests and bolsters embroidered with
Dragons in the Clouds designs and the character
Longevity.
Continued on next page
27
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Accessories
Bolster
A back-rest and bolster of brocade with chain designs.
In the middle were red back-rests and turquoise bolsters,
both with dragon-design medallions.
Mattress
A glossy satin mattress with a golden center.
A bamboo mat woven in a lotus pattern.
A long greenish yellow mattress also with dragon medal-
lions.
Rug
The large Kang by the window was covered with a scarlet
foreign rug.
Portiere
Two hundred blinds were delivered yesterday. Beside
these, there are two hundred portieres of crimson felt,
two hundred of red lacquered bamboo with gold  ecks,
two hundred of black lacquered bamboo, and two hun-
dred woven with colored silks. Half of each kind is ready,
the rest will be  nished by the end of autumn. Then
there are chair-covers, table-drapes, valances and stool-
covers - one thousand two hundred of each - which we
already have.
The soft  owered portiere.
A leek-green  owered portiere.
A red portiere embroidered in gold  owers.
Continued on next page
28
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Accessories Tapesty
Twelve red tapestry scenes from the opera Every Son
a high Minister on one side and one the other gilded
depictions of the character Longevity in various styles of
calligraphy.
Bedding
Quilt
An apricot-red silk quilt.
A peach-red silk-padded quilt.
Pillow
A jade-colored gauze pillow  lled with all sorts of fresh
rose and peony petals.
An agate pillow.
Material
Satin
Of the one hundred and twenty satin curtains embroi-
dered with serpents and large and small black-dotted
brocade hangings inset with di erent designs and colors,
eighty were ready yesterday and forty are still to come.
Forty rolls of red  owered satin; forty rolls of satin with
serpent designs; a hundred rolls of Imperial gauze of dif-
ferent colors; four gold necklaces.
Twelve rolls of  rst-grade Imperial brocade with the ser-
pent design. Twelve rolls of di erent colors for the Impe-
rial use. Twelve rolls of Imperial gauze in di erent colors.
Twelve rolls of Imperial silk. Twenty-four rolls of satin,
gauze and silk in di erent colors for o cial use.
Silk
The pomegranate-red silk.
A red silk sutra wrapper with serpent design.
The raw silk.
Continued on next page
29
Table 2.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Material
Silk
Two lengths of phoenix-tail silk.
This soft-mist silk comes in four colors only: Light blue,
yellowish green, dark-green and silver-red. Used for bed-
curtains or window gauze, from a distance it looks like
smoke or mist, that?s how it got its name.
Gauze
The blue gauze.
The pale blue gauze.
The wrapper was of black-dotted silk gauze, lined with
bright pink silk.
The several rolls of silver-red cicada - wing gauze in one of
the chests. There are several di erent designs - sprays of
blossom,  oating clouds and bats, butter ies and  owers
- the colors so vivid and the gauze so soft.
\I?m learning that too from Nanny Liu," said Qiaojie.\
Applique work, chain-stitch and so on. I?m not much
good at it, but I?m learning some di erent stitches".
Table 2.2: Ornament description
Category Sub-category Description
Jewelry
Tiara
Her gold- ligree tiara was set with jewels and pearls.
A gold  ligree phoenix tiara inlaid with pearls.
Coronet A golden coronet studded with jewels.
Continued on next page
30
Table 2.2 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Jewelry
Coronet A golden  ligree coronet studded with gems.
Chaplet
A golden chaplet in the form of two dragons  ghting for
a pearl.
A gold chaplet in the form of two dragons  ghting for a
pearl.
A silver chaplet in the form of two dragons rising from
the sea.
Band A pearl-studded band.
Hair-clasps
Her hair-clasps, in the form of  ve phoenixes facing the
sun, had pendants of pearls.
Pompon The crimson velvet pompon, the size of a walnut.
Pin A  at gold pin.
Flower
Biyun held out a large emerald plate in the form of a
lotus leaf, on which were chrysanthemums of di erent
kinds. The lady Dowager selected a red one and pinned
it in her hair.
Stick Then sticks of four-o?clock-seed powder.
Necklet
Her necklet, of red gold, was in the form of a coiled dragon
studded with gems.
Torque
A gold  ligree necklet studded with pearls as large as
lotus seeds; in the other, a jeweled green enamel necklet.
Ring A couple of crimson cornelian rings.
String Two strings of red beads scented with musk.
Pendant The rose-red jade pendants in the form of double- at sh.
Continued on next page
31
Table 2.2 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Jewelry
Pendant
The golden pendants in the form of the eight precious
things.
A Han-Dynasty jade pendant carved with nine dragons.
A ruby-ear-ring set in gold the size of a gingko nut.
A gold unicorn decorated with turquoise enamel.
Trinket Four pairs of jeweled trinkets set in gold.
Amulet
The amulets of gold and jade engraved with the inscrip-
tions.
Table 2.3: Tableware description
Category Sub-category Description
Tableware Cup
A small covered cup on a little lacquered tray.
A tiny red soapstone cup shaped like a palm leaf.
Variegated cloisonne cup.
The set of ten cups carved out of bamboo root.
Teacups made in a previous reign; and gay little teapots
 lled with the  nest tea on a small tray of Western lac-
quer ware. Set out too was a crimson gauze screen in a
carved purple-sandalwood frame embroidered with  ow-
ers and calligraphy.
Three pairs of glided cups.
Thirty-six silver cups.
Continued on next page
32
Table 2.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Tableware
Cup
The amber cups.
On either side were two tables set out with teacups and
vases of  owers.
One laid with cups, chopsticks and wine pots, the other
with a tea-service.
Amazement because all ten  tted into each other, the
largest being the size of a small basin and even the small-
est as big as the cup in her hand. Admiration at the  ne
landscapes, trees and  gures carved on them, as well as
the seals and inscriptions.
Beaker The green jade beaker.
Goblet
A huge goblet carved out of a whole bamboo root which
was covered with knots and whorls.
Wine vessel
This was  anked by a bronze wine vessel inlaid with gold.
glass vessel.
Tray
A carved lacquer tea-tray in the shape of crab-apple blos-
som, gilded with a golden design of the cloud dragon of-
fering longevity.
A small carved, double-circle foreign lacquer tray.
Pot
A tarnished silver pot with a plum-blossom design.
A wine pot apiece.
Everyone also had a tarnished silver sine-pot with en-
graved designs.
The whole dark blue porcelain pot.
Continued on next page
33
Table 2.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Tableware
Pot
A silver pot.
Four gilded pots.
A silver pot of freshly-heated wine.
Saucer Seventy-six silver saucers.
Dish
The forty white Ding ware dishes, no bigger than saucers.
A big dish of Guan-ware porcelain.
Plate
The gold and silver plate.
A white agate plate with spiral designs.
A large emerald plate in the form of a lotus leaf.
Two pale gold plates.
Twenty silver plates.
Ru-ware plate.
Chopsticks
The ebony chopsticks inlaid with silver.
An old-fashioned pair of square-edged ivory chopsticks
inlaid with gold.
The ivory chopsticks.
An ebony pair inlaid with silver.
Two pairs of ivory chopsticks inlaid with gold.
Bowl
A crystal bowl.
A covered bowl of tea on a small tray.
A covered gilded polychrome bowl made in the Cheng
Hua period.
Two pairs of gold bowls.
Two gilded bowls.
Continued on next page
34
Table 2.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Tableware
Bowl
Eighty big silver bowls.
A crystal bowl.
Melon-green covered bowls with raised golden designs of
new Imperial kiln porcelain.
Shaped like a small alms-bowl, bore the name in the curly
seal script:Rhinoceros Cup.
Spoons Forty gold spoons.
Napkin A cambric napkin.
Box Ten-compartment box of tidbits.
Hamper
Multicolored lacquered hampers inlaid with gilt designs.
Two small woven bamboo hampers.
Small hamper.
Bottle
They were tiny glass bottles barely three inches high,
with silver caps which screwed on, and yellow labels. On
one was written Pure Osmanthus Juice, on the other Pure
Rose Juice.
Mold
The casket containing the four silver molds. More than a
foot long and about one inch across, they were inset with
more than thirty delicately fashioned shapes no larger
than peas - chrysanthemum, plum-blossom, lotus  ower,
caltrop and the like.
35
Table 2.4: Food description
Category Sub-category Description
Drinking
Tea
Maple-dew tea.
Puer tea.
Nuer tea.
Wine
This wine is made from the stamens of a hundred  owers
and the sap of ten thousand trees mixed with the marrow
of unicorns and fermented with phoenix milk.
Hui Fountain wine.
A pot of spirits in which acacia  owers had been steeped.
New Year wine.
Staple food
Powder Powered green beans scented with chrysanthemum
leaves.
Taros A dish of steamed taros.
Noddle
A hundred bundles of silver-silk noodles of the kind used
in the Palace.
Rice A big bowl of hot green rice.
Dumpling
A plate of beancurd dumplings.
Tiny fried dumpling no more than one inch long.
Soup
A bowl of cabbage soup with ham and dried shrimps, as
well as some bamboo shoots and laver in it.
One bowl of chicken skin soup with shrimp balls.
The quail soup.
The happy-reunion soup.
A bowl of ham-and-fresh-bamboo-shoot soup.
Continued on next page
36
Table 2.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Staple food
Broth
The broth made with small lotus leaves and lotus seeds.
The lotus-seed and date broth.
Porridge Half a bowl of green-rice porridge.
Congee
Some milk and sweetened rice congee.
Duck congee.
Date congee.
Gruel
Almond gruel.
Bird?s nest gruel.
Main meal Main meal
A bowl of fresh pork stewed with ham.
A lamb embryo steamed in milk.
One bowl of steamed duck with wine sauce.
One of salted goose.
Fried egg-plant.
Some fried wolfberry sprouts.
Bamboo-shoots with chicken marrow.
A bowl of bamboo-shoots and a dish of salted raccoon.
Snack Snack
The goose feet and duck tongues.
Deep-fry some quails.
He steeped a bowl of rice in hot tea, added some diced
pheasant and hastily swallowed this down.
Chicken-fat rolls.
Pine-kernel and goose-fat rolls.
Pigeon?s eggs.
A piece of crystallized ginger from the plate Sheyue.
Continued on next page
37
Table 2.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Snack Snack
Salted turnips.
Five-spice pickles with sesame oil and vinegar.
The fried bones.
Dessert
Cake
The yam cakes stu ed with dates.
Some caltrop cakes.
Powered chestnut cake sweetened with osmanthus.
Cakes made of ground lotus-foot  avoured with fragrant
osmanthus.
Wish-ful llment cakes.
A hundred longevity cakes in the shape of peaches.
Melon-seed oil mooncakes stu ed with pine-kernels from
the Palace.
Pastry
Small colored pastries fried with cream.
Granny Liu was struck by the daintiness and variety of
the small pastries. Selecting one shaped like a peony she
said:\ The cleverest girls in our village couldn?t make
scissor cuts as good as this".
Pu Another of four pine-kernel cream pu s.
Junket Sweetened junket arrived from the Imperial Consort.
Candy Candied rose petals.
Sugar
A packaging of  ne plum-petal snow-white sugar from
Alpinia Park.
Fruit Fruit
Lucky fruit.
A bowl of pear juice and dried-longan syrup.
38
Table 2.5: Furniture description
Category Sub-category Description
Furniture
Chair
A row of sixteen cedar-wood armchairs.
Below the kang facing the west wall were four armchairs.
Twelve carved lacquer chairs covered with grey squirrel-
skins.
Couch
The wicker couch.
To their east stood a carved openwork dragon-screen,
with below it a low couch spread with cushions, pillows
and furs.
She sent her maid for an embroidered cushion and sat by
the balustrade angling for  sh.
By now Xifeng and her helpers had everything in perfect
order. There were two couches on the north side, left and
right, spread with brocade cushions and velvet coverlets
in a lotus pattern. In front of each couch stood two carved
lacquer teapoys of di erent shapes with pyrus-blossom,
plum-blossom, lotus and sun  ower designs, some square,
some round, one of which held an incense-burner, a vase
and a box of various sweatments.
Footstool With four footstools beneath them.
Table
At each side stood a low table of foreign lacquer in the
shape of plum-blossom.
The large red sandalwood table carved with dragons.
Continued on next page
39
Table 2.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Furniture
Table
Beside the pillows, an elegant low table of foreign lacquer
with tilt designs was set out with a teapot, cups, rinse-
bowls and towels as well as a spectacle-case.
Upon reaching the pavilion they saw on the balcony two
bamboo tables.
Shelf
There were only partitions formed of shelves for books,
bronze tripods, stationery,  ower vases and miniature
gardens, some round, some square, some shaped like sun-
 owers, plantain leaves or intersecting arcs. They were
beautifully carved with the motifs clouds and a hundred
bats of the three companions of winter - pine, plum and
bamboo - as well as landscapes and  gures, birds and
 owers, scrollwork, imitation curios and symbols of good
fortune or long life. All executed by the  nest craftsmen,
they were brilliantly colored and inlaid with gold or pre-
cious stones. The e ect was splendid, the workmanship
exquisite.
Table 2.6: Daily-use items description
Category Sub-category Description
Daily Items Incense
Two slabs of perfumed incense shaped like plum-blossom
from her pouch.
Continued on next page
40
Table 2.6 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Daily Items
Incense-box Incense-boxes carved out of bamboo roots.
Stove Tiny clay stoves.
Toy Toy tumblers weighted with quicksilver.
Basket Little willow baskets.
Casket A porcelain casket made in the xuan De period.
Case
A small  at, golden-starred glass case with gilt double-
catches.
Vehicle Carriage
A blue lacquered carriage with verdancy curtains.
The carriage shared by Baochai and Diayu was gay with
a verdancy awning, pearl-tassels and designs of the Eight
Precious Things.
Table 2.7: Decor items description
Category Sub-category Description
Decor
Scepter A sandalwood Ruyi scepter.
Spittoon A silver spittoon.
Sword
She looked at the dragon and serpent designs on the
sheath which was studded with bright pearls and jew-
els, then drew out the two swords, identical in size, one
engraved with the word duck, the other drake.
Vase A pair of vases.
Continued on next page
41
Table 2.7 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Decor
Vase
On the right one, a slender-waisted porcelain vase from
the Ruzhou Kiln containing  owers then in season, as
well as tea-bowls and a spittoon.
On either side were two tables set out with teacups and
vases of  owers.
Ru ware vase the size of a peck measure was  lled with
chrysanthemums white as crystal balls.
A rough crackleware vase.
Jar
That evening when Daiyu went into the inner room to
get ready for bed, the sight of the jar of litchi reminded
her of the old woman?s maundering.
Tripod
An old bronze tripod, green with patina, stood about
three feet high.
On the left-hand table were a tripod, spoons, chopsticks
and an incense container.
Put the tripod with dragon designs on the table.
The dark steatite tripod.
Ancient bronze tripods and libation cups green with
patina.
The tripod with dragon designs.
Brazier
A large gilded cloisonne brazier, its three legs in the form
of elephant trucks.
Continued on next page
42
Table 2.7 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Decor
Music stone
To its right, suspended on a lacquer frame, was a white
jade musical stone in the form of double- at sh, with a
small hammer next to it.
Chandelier
From the great beams on either side hung crystal,
hibiscus-shaped chandeliers with colored tassels. In front
of each table was a candelabrum of Western enamel with
a lacquer shade in the shape of an inverted lotus leaf; and
this could be turned outwards to shade the colored can-
dles? light from the feasters and illumine the stage more
brightly. The lattices of feasters and illumine the seat
more brightly. The lattices of the windows and doors
had been removed and in their place hung gaily-tasseled
Palace lanterns. From the eaves of the house, as well
as the covered walks on either side, hung lanterns made
of horn, glass, gauze, cut-glass or silk and paper with
embroidered or painted, raised or incised designs.
Drawing
On the wall hung a large scroll-picture of black dragons
riding the waves.
Placard
Before the porch hung a placard gilded with the nine-
dragon design, and the inscription Stars Shine on the
Assistant, which had been written by the late Emperor
himself.
Paper
Baoyu chose a sheet of pink paper with a gilded border
and  oral design on one of the top and bottom corners.
Continued on next page
43
Table 2.7 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Decor
Paper
Baoyu saw a newly written couplet on purple paper with
gilded cloud-dragon designs.
Candle
On both sides below the steps, tall vermilion candles
blazed like golden dragons.
Lantern earthern ware lantern.
Table 2.8: Architecture description
Category Sub-category Description
Architecture
Wall
The walls were of polished bricks of a uniform color, and
the white marble steps were carved with passion- owers.
building
From there they went on some way until ahead of them
loomed towering pavilions enclosed by magni cent build-
ings, all of them connected by winding passageways.
Green pines brushed the eaves, white balustrades skirted
the steps, the animal designs glittered like gold and the
dragon-heads blazed with color.
Arch
They were now at the foot of a marble arch  nely carved
with rampant dragons and coiling serpents.
Tablet
Two inscriptions inlaid in mother-of-pearl on the black
lacquer tablets hanging on the pillars.
Continued on next page
44
Table 2.8 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Architecture
Tablet
The tablet over the entrance to the main hall was en-
graved with frolicking dragons, and bore the intagliated
motto in blue: Venerate the Departed, Continue Their
Sacri ces.
Panel
Above these hung two panels of ebony with the following
couplet gilded in silver.
The description about the tableware and vessels for tea and wine give me the most
inspiration; therefore, these three categories are further studied.
First, the materials for tableware and vessels are grouped into lacquer, wood, metal,
jade, glass and ceramics. Lacquer is mainly used for the lunch boxes and wood is mainly
for the cups and chopsticks. Among the rest of the four categories, ceramics are the most
mentioned for the tableware and vessels. Out of the categories of materials, ceramics are
selected as the further research topic.
Ceramics are also named china, which can represent the history, spirit and technology
of China. China has the longest history of advanced ceramic production. Chinese ceramic
ware as an art form has been developing since the dynastic periods [32]. The skill of Chinese
potters and the high degree of organisation had ensured China?s constant position as the
world?s foremost producer of ceramic artifacts [28].
The potter?s art in China is peculiarly absorbing and attractive for its antiquity, variety,
beauty and the wonderful skill of the Chinese potters, accumulated from the traditions
of centuries. The Chinese ceramic wares are well known for the brilliant decoration and
natural color sense. The specimens in pure Chinese taste, and particularly the Court wares,
45
are unsurpassed in quality and  nish. Chinese poets make frequent reference to its dainty
qualities, its jade-like appearance, its musical ring, and its lightness and re nement [34].
Dream of the Red Chamber includes meticulous descriptions of life in a grand eighteenth-
century house and mentions Guan, Ru, Ding and enamelled wares. The features of these
four wares will be introduced in the following sections.
China has one of the longest histories of production of world ceramics tradition. The
documentation of the Chinese historical ceramic trade demonstrated that is has had a re-
markable impact on other cultures, especially, Europe. There are some descriptions about
Chinese ceramics from which we can evaluate the impact on all aspects of life in di erent
cultures. For instance, if we read the literature in English, Chinese porcelain was regarded
as a pure, clean substance for eating and drinking, especially dessert and tea. At the same
time, the decoration and design was viewed as fashionably ?Oriental?. Certainly in Europe,
Chinese porcelain was the primary in uence on the development of chinoiserie, a design
category and style in the eighteenth century [32].
Aside from the features of the wares mentioned in this novel, the tableware has two
more special features.
Firstly, the tableware mentioned in this novel is made for the emperor, which re ects
the status of a great family and also relates to the author?s family background in honor of
the emperor.
Second, in this novel, besides the major male character, Jia Baoyu, the author described
twelve young girls in details. We know little about the process of the novel?s creation. In
the Author?s Preface, \but no matter how unforgivable my crimes, I must not let all the
lovely girls I have known pass into oblivion through my wickedness or my desire to hide
my shortcomings... Though I have little learning or literary talent, what does it matter if
I tell a tale in rustic language to leave a record of all those lovely girls. This should divert
readers too and help distract them from their cares". That is why in this novel, besides the
major male character, Jia Baoyu, the author described twelve lovely girls in amazing detail.
46
Therefore, the house hold utensils, including the tableware, used by these girls should look
more feminine than some other novels.
2.3 Finding of Implications of Analysis
The most notable feature of Chinese civilization is its long continuity, which has ex-
tended over  ve thousand years. This continuity is demonstrated in the art history and
especially in ceramics development. From the 10 BC down to the present time, the ceramics
development is fairly clear, and there is not a single century in this long period into which a
considerable number of ceramic objects can be  tted [24]. Thus a partial history of Chinese
ceramics can be studied. The following is a timeline of the history of China from the Song
Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
960-1127
Northern Song Dynasty
1280-1368
Yuan Dynasty
1644-1911
Qing Dynasty
1127-1279
Southern Song Dynasty
1268-1644
Ming Dynasty
Figure 2.1: Chinese history timeline from Song to Qing Dynasty
2.3.1 Ding Ware
2.3.1.1 Introduction of Ding Ware
Ding ware is a quite specialized Northern Song ceramic. It seems that Ding ware was
one of the  rst wares to emerge as an in uential form among the Chinese kilns  ourishing
at the end of the tenth century. Ding ware in the Song dynasty is the culmination of
tradition of white wares from other tenth-century kilns. Ding ware made good use of local
raw materials and techniques to develop the hard,  ne, ivory-white stoneware that has some
of the characteristics of porcelain.
47
Ding ware was located in present-day Jiancicun in Quyang county, Hebei province. In
the Song dynasty, this area was in Ding prefecture (as distinct from Ding County, also in
Hebei). The kilns began to produce white wares during the eighth century, in the mid to
the late Tang dynasty, and continued to manufacture them until the thirteenth or fourteenth
century. The Song wares undoubtedly reached the peak of their quality in the six-hundred-
year period.
Ding ware intentionally emphasized the quality variation among the di erent types of
wares. With the special features of ivory-white wares, Ding ware led the head of a great
tradition that they continued to carry forward in the Song dynasty.
Ding ware presents mastery of materials and  ring technology. The high quality of Ding
wares got the favour of emperors, o cials and scholars in the Song dynasty, whose taste to
some extent in turn in uenced the popularity of Ding ware.
2.3.1.2 Techniques of Ding Ware
The introduction of a new  ring technique was prompted by the great demand for the
 ne white wares and the di culties that resulted from their thinness. Ding ware was  red
in a saggar with stepped sides rather than each piece being  red in its own saggar, the bow
protecting the pot from direct  ames.
The upside-down  ring technique (Fu Shao) became common in the late Northern Song.
This upside-down  ring seemed to be  rst adapted for Ding ware for both technical and
economic reasons. It resulted in stacked  ring whereby a stack of several pots could be  red
in one saggar, which saved space and reduced the kiln costs (Figure 2.2).
Thinly potted open wares were made at the kilns, and these tended to warp when  red
on their foot rims. The rims of the bowls and dishes were placed down on the steps in order
to spread weight more evenly and guard against distortion of their thin bodies in the kiln.
The technology required the wide-rimmed bowls to be placed upside down, which could
be stacked in stepped  ring saggars, thus making good use of the  ring capacity. The rims
48
of the objects had to be free of glaze to avoid sticking to the saggar during  ring. Fu Shao
technology increased the quality of bowls production and thus was considered the method
to improve mass production.
Figure 2.2: Stepped saggars showing the method of packing
One disadvantage of this  ring method was the unglazed rim that was called rough
mouth (Mang kou) of Ding ware. The Ding potters solved this problem by covering the rim
with beaten silver or, more usually, copper bands (Figure 2.3). Since the early Tang dynasty,
gold rims had been used on precious jade and occasionally ceramic cups. Since a few Ding
pieces have gilded decoration, the metal band on many more Ding wares became a mark
of esteem. Other less obvious results were the near elimination of the foot-ring, which was
reduced to a tiny strip, and the whole foot and base were coated with glaze.
One characteristic element of color on many Ding wares was not the color of glaze but
rather the colored metal band that was applied after  ring around the rim. This band had
both a functional and aesthetic purpose. The function of the metal band related to the  ring
method and the malleability. The metal band could also protect one of the most delicate
parts of the pot, its unglazed lip. The binding of rims was considered an embellishment of
Ding ware, which complemented the ivory glaze.
49
Figure 2.3: Dish 1
The Fu Shao technology, along with the invention of the fast wheel, decoration molding
and shape, made major progress in advancing industrial ceramic techniques.
2.3.1.3 Glaze of Ding Ware
Ding ware produced a smooth ware, not readily translucent. The glaze of Ding wares
were primarily colorless but with a distinct ivory tinge and smooth, glossy texture that gave
them a luminous quality (Figure 2.4). As a characteristic of porcelain, in transmitted light,
the body of Ding wares could show a warm glow.
The ivory-toned, glossy magnesia glaze on Ding wares was characteristic in the Song
period, but it was in fact a deliberate design that made use of the properties of coal-fuelled
 rings that were more conducive to oxidizing atmospheres. The warmer tone colors of the
glazes are the result of the atmospheres.
Ding ware is famous for its ivory-white tone and transparent glaze. A few, rare examples
of Ding ware, however, have black, green and brown glazes or brown-painted and incised
decorations. The very best dark-glazed type has a glossy, deep-black glaze that resembles
50
Figure 2.4: Ding ware basin. Song Dynasty, 11-12 century. Diameter: 24.5cm
lacquer, while another valued style is known as ?purple Ding? because of its aubergine-brown
glaze (Figure 2.5).
2.3.1.4 Shapes of Ding Ware
In the Northern Song dynasty, the predominating potting method for mass production
was wheel-throwing that produced the elegant carved designs with a thin-wall, a  nely  n-
ished lip and an elegantly fashioned foot-ring. Great quantities of bowls and dishes survived
in the Song dynasty, which were made in di erent styles, colors and materials. Ding wares
combine a re nement in materials and potting, and at their best, are among the most elegant
examples of this style.
51
Figure 2.5: Henan black ware tea bowl. Northern Song/Jin dynasty, 11-12th
century. Diameter 9cm, height 4.4cm.
The large examples of bowls that have been used for eating had the conical shape with
a narrow foot (Figure 2.6). Serving vessels with a wide mouth in the white wares may re ect
an aesthetics taste that related to the food [21].
In the Song dynasty, the high-quality Ding wares were typically deep foliated bowls that
were very similar to the tenth-century bowls but had more re nement. In the early Song
dynasty, no new shape seemed to be produced. The bowls with a thin trailing line of slip up
the inside imitate the foliation shape that later was formed by simple V-shaped cut in the
lip. The central medallion in the well of the bowl remained plain.
Various shapes of better quality wares became popular. The  ower-shaped bowl at  rst
had straight lips and a pro le like a buttercup. Later, the lip became  ared and even with
a  ange. A more elegant bowl with straight sides was introduced. The straight sides that
 ared from a tiny foot made a wonderful surface for the decoration. The saucer with a
completely  at base but without a foot was also particularly elegant in Ding ware for its
color and delicacy.
The dish (Figure 2.7) has a  at, slightly recessed base and eight-lobed cavetto. The rim
is lobed and  attened, but the edge of the rim is slightly raised.
52
Figure 2.6: Pro les and drawing of decoration on Ding ware
Figure 2.7: Ding ware trilobate dish. Northern Song dynasty, 10th century. Di-
ameter 13.4cm, height 2.9cm
The slightly lobed rim gives this dish the appearance of being made up of three petals.
The petals are de ned by  ne trails of slip running from the inside of the rim to the base of
the dish. Faint incised lines indicate the lobing on the outside of the well.
53
2.3.1.5 Decoration of Ding Ware
Ding ware was an o cial ware, whose one feature is its especially pronounced decoration.
Ding ware is admired for its detailed ornaments through various decoration techniques,
including carved and incised rather than painted designs, which were all used to great e ect.
During the  rst twenty- ve years of the Song dynasty, the incised technique was used
on Ding ware for either a  oral motif,  sh in waves or ducks. The incised decoration may
derive from traditional green wares in Zhejiang in the tenth century. The incised technique
of cutting a sloping, incised line into the leather-hard body was quite popular to many kilns
in the Song dynasty.
The potters lightly drew a series of lines, with a broad, sweeping, sloping cut that were
strengthened by one or more  ne lines running parallel.
For instance, the prunus vase (Figure 2.8) has a tall, elegant shape. This vase, with
a  ne white body and a thin ivory glaze, was thrown in three sections; neck, shoulder and
body that are glued together by joints.
Figure 2.8: Ding ware prunus vase. Northern Song dynasty, 11-12th century.
Diameter 18.4cm, height 36.5cm
54
The decoration on the vase was carved under the glaze. There are three di erent deco-
ration zones on the vase body. On the shoulder, above a carved circle, is a slanting S-form
overlapping petal design. A bold, freely disposed peony scroll was applied on the main body
section, and a band of large overlapping petals or leaves was applied on the foot of the vase.
The incised decoration was cut at an angle, and typically, a number of the outlines were
enforced by additional parallel lines.
Ding ware was famous for the feature of its decoration. The trend of mimicking precious
materials, such as gold and silver, started the mass-production through molds.
Compared to the more labor-intensive individually carved method, molded decoration
introduced at the turn of the eleventh century, was an opposite approach to design apparent
on wares for the mass production. The use of molds meant not only that designs could be
produced more quickly by semi-skilled laborers, but also that pieces of a standard size could
be made more easily. The development is also tied to the adoption of metalwork shapes in
the ceramic wares of this period.
Molds were made of clay with the same compact,  ne texture as the body of the vessels.
They were  red at a lower temperature so that they would remain slightly porous, a condition
that aided crisper casting.
In the molding approach, the bowl was made by the thrown wheel as usual and then,
when it was dry enough to handle, it was placed face down over a ceramic mold on which a
deeply incised design had been applied. The bowl was pressed  rmly over a bowl-shaped mold
already carved with ornamentation at the same time the thickness of the wall of the piece
was reduced through turning on a lathe. After the bowl was removed and  red, the mold
could be used again. Since the complication of the decoration process had been eliminated
by the molding technique, the production could be increased enormously. After the bowl was
removed from the mold, it was glazed and  red in a saggar in the usual way. The aesthetics of
molded decoration were quite distinct from the incised decoration. The decorations through
molding on Ding wares were more formal and elaborate than the decoration by the incised
55
technique. The styles of the incised and impressed methods were quite di erent from each
other.
The impressed decoration was always applied on the inside of the dish or bowl. The
main decoration zone was enclosed by one of many borders, among which the most popular
border was squared spiral in a narrow band placed below the rim of the bowl.
The main  eld motifs form a wreath around the center, frequently without any central
feature. The absence of central decoration related to the casualness of the placement of
incised decoration.
The design was applied on the inside of a bowl or dish, which seemed insensitive to the
pro le of the piece itself, for identical decorations were placed on a deep bowl or a shallow
dish. The molded decoration may  atten out the form of the bowl rather than strengthen
it. The whole design is carried out in an almost embossed style, which stands up in positive,
giving an over-all e ect of considerable richness and extravagance in the later pieces from
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in which birds and  ower motifs are combined.
A very di erent visual impression appeared in this new technique, which made the
twelfth- and thirteenth-century Ding wares a more static design but also a more intricate
and dense pattern. However, the molded ornament on Ding ware could only be placed on
the inside of the objects so that the outside surface was still incised by hand for some time.
This is demonstrated by the bowl and dishes illustrated in Figure 2.9.
The molded design of  sh on the left bowl derived from the metal pattern. The dish
on the right bears an intricate molded scene of two deer among clouds and  owers. The two
words deer and good fortune have the same pronunciation in Chinese.
The motifs may derive from the textile pattern of the Song dynasty and the crowded
design perhaps came from the earlier styles of relief decoration of the Tang dynasty. The
decoration motifs included all sorts of  owers, plants and animals, among which birds and
 owers were the most popular pattern.
56
Figure 2.9: Ding ware bowl and dish. Jin dynasty, 12-13th century. Diameters
20.2cm, height 21.3 cm.
By introducing the molding technique, some new motifs were applied - children and
Phoenixes, for instance. The ornament became more crowded so that such  gures appeared
amidst banks of foliage.
The decoration on Ding ware suggests religious associations. Lotus was a particular
favorite pattern in the Song dynasty, for not only was it a popular bloom for garden pools,
but it also was associated with Buddhism [28].
Some magni cent pieces were produced at this time, such as the large bowl with carved
lotus-petal outside, and incised lotus scrolls inside (Figure 2.10); a similarly impressive vessel
is the large jar with incised lotus-scroll decoration (Figure 2.11).
Figure 2.10: Ding ware large bowl. Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century.
Diameter 28.6 cm, height 14.5 cm.
57
Figure 2.11: Ding ware large jar. Northern Song dynasty, 11-12th century. Height
28.5 cm.
2.3.2 Ru Ware
2.3.2.1 Introduction of Ru Ware
The terminology of imperial and non-imperial wares is one that has special status in the
 eld of Chinese ceramics, including those of the Song dynasty. Government o cials would
travel to the kilns to inspect and select pieces. The best ceramics from the imperial ware
were used at court for ceremonial and domestic purpose.
Ru ware replaced Ding ware as the imperial ware sponsored and inspected by the North-
ern Song court. In the early Southern Song period, Ye Zhi stated in Miscellaneous studies,
\in this dynasty, the white wares from Ding Zhou being  awed by awns [meaning unclear],
the court deemed them un t for use, and orders were handed down for green wares to be
 red at Ru prefecture." Writing in the same period, Lu You stated in Anecdotes of historical
personalities, \in the old capital Ding wares were forbidden, only Ru wares were used". Ru
ware was speci cally an imperial ware, and Zhou Hui in Literary and artistic journal appears
almost wistful in observing.
The imperial Ru ware is very rare today since it was made in much smaller quantities for
the Northern Song court in a short period of time, and even by the end of the Southern Song
58
dynasty it was regarded as rare. Another Southern Song remark about Ru ware is that of
Zhou Hui who wrote: \Ru ware was  red for the palace; the glaze contains agate. Only those
items rejected by the court could be taken away and sold; recently they are exceptionally
di cult to obtain"[22]. The production of o cial Ru ware came to an end when the court
was forced to  ee south in 1126. In AD 1151 Zhou Mi wrote in the Wu lin Jiu Shu a list of
Ru wares presented to the Emperor: one pair of wine bottles, one basin, one incense burner,
one box, one incense sphere, four cups, two jars, one pair of incense holders, and one large
and one small cylindrical censer sixteen items altogether. This is the largest number of Ru
wares recorded together, and is a clear indication of the range of shapes produced. Until
recently there were fewer than forty extant examples, more than half of them in Britain[23].
The mystery around Ru wares, extolled in literature for a long time, also is esteemed as
one of the most famous of Northern wares. Ru wares have long been regarded as the peak of
the Song ceramics. The predilection for imperial wares is partly due to the value established
several hundred years ago. Chinese collectors and connoisseurs highly esteemed Ru ware for
its beauty, rarity and market value from the Southern Song onwards[23].
Ru ware, the signi cant stoneware in the Song dynasty, was designated for a particular
market: the court. During the period of 1086-1107, the  ne vessels were created in the kilns
at Qing Liangsi by commission of the Northern Song court, which is known as Ru ware. Ru
ware are highly specialized products created with Northern Song technologies and local raw
materials. The beauty of Ru ware lies in its range of elegant shapes, restrained decorations
and subtle blue-grey glaze [24].
The incised, carved and impressed designs were also applied on Ru ware in a very
conservative way that was appropriate for the court taste. The simple undecorated forms,
never more than 30cm high, are most praised for the even grey-blue glaze. The style of Ru
ware re ects the epitome of court taste. Those aristocratic wares for a period of only about
forty years apparently accorded well with the taste of Emperor Huizong (AD 1100-1125).
Huizong was a fastidious aesthete who had powerful in uence on the taste of his period and
59
especially on his court. It is quite understandable that the exquisite green ware tradition
occurred during this reign. It is a rare example that individual patronage directed a ceramic
style. Since the pottery was produced to use, even the most highly prized ware did not have
the same status as silk, lacquer, jade, gold or silver. Due to the imperial patronage, Ru ware
holds its position not only for its rarity but also for its exceptional beauty.
2.3.2.2 Techniques of Ru Ware
Most Ru ware was fully glazed so they were  red upright in a sagger on three or  ve-spur
setters that left small, sesame-seed-shaped spur trademarks on the base. The color of the
dense body was varied from near white to a mid-bu -grey called the color of incense ash
in Chinese. The most remarkable feature of the body was its high refractoriness for its low
levels of alkalis so that the large open forms were permitted to be  red on multiple spurs
without distortion.
Ru ware was usually  red between 1220 and 1240 degree. The overall glaze on the
body prevented the re-oxidation of body at the end of the  ring cycle, which gave a reddish
tone to the exposed part, typically on the unglazed foot ring. The reoxidation situation was
purposely limited as they pursued the cool, bluish tones of the glaze.
2.3.2.3. Glaze of Ru Ware
The glaze on Ru ware is regarded as the most beautiful of all glazes in the Song dynasty
[21]. The glaze of Ru ware is opaque but very  ne and densely crackle. The tone of glaze
color on Ru ware ranged from azure sky blue to a milky egg blue. The color of grey-blue
glaze resulted from iron  red in reduction. The various degree of reduction left the body
either bu or grey.
Another characteristic feature of Ru ware is its shallow and irregular crackle, which is
known as crab-claw markings or ice crackle. The crackles came from several layers of glaze.
As a technique, crackle in the glaze was quite in vogue in twelfth-century China. At  rst,
60
the crackles were created unintentionally, but later a much wider and deeper crackling of
the glaze was designed purposely and resulted from an incompatibility, the expansion and
contraction between the body and glaze when  ring. The light-catching  aws in the glaze
due to the crackle are quite similar to that in jade. Just as the  aw in the jade accentuates
its depth, the crackle in the glaze makes the Ru ware three-dimensional. Fish scale is the
 ner grade of crackle which catches the light and re ects it back. The glitter and sheen looks
like live  sh-scales.
The glaze on the cupstand (Figure 2.12) is a marvellous example of ice crackle, with
 ne white lines contained within deeper cracks. The connoisseurs often commented on the
di culty of collecting specimens and the exact color and texture of glaze on Ru ware. The
connoisseurial author Cao Zhao stated in 1388 that:\Ru ware was also made in the North ...
pieces with crab-claw markings are genuine, but those lacking the markings are extremely
 ne. Its body is unctuous, and very thin, and examples are very di cult to obtain"[25].
Figure 2.12: Ru ware cupstand. Northern Song dynasty, about 1086-
1106.Diameter 16.5 cm, height 5.8 cm.
The thick unctuous glaze texture as another feature of Ru ware that was described as
like lard dissolving but not  owing. This description was due to the most favorite jade in
China, which looks like mutton fat. Therefore the Chinese esteemed the glazes resembling
jade.
61
2.3.2.4 Shapes of Ru Ware
Ru ware is characterized by the simple elegant form which is consistent with the re ned
tastes of the Northern Song emperor, Huizhong, for whom they were produced. Ru ware
was usually produced in small, elegant and domestic shapes, such as bowl, cup stand, ewer,
plate and dish. The appearance of Ru ware is very simple and restrained.
Typically, the foot ring of the objects  ared outwards, resembling the foot ring of Song
lacquer. Ru ware usually had foliated, gently curving lips and simply curved sides [21].
The bowl (Figure 2.13) has the smoothly rounded sides and the everted lip. The foot
ring, covered with the glaze, is curved and splayed.
Figure 2.13: Ru ware bowl. Northern Song dynasty, early 12th century. Diameter
17cm, height 7cm.
The sides of the upper section of the bowl-stand (Figure 2.14). are curved and the rim
mouth is straight. The  ange of the lower section imitates the shape of a  ve-pedalled  ower
and the rim in the shape of the lobe is slightly raised at the edge. The foot ring is also
curved and splayed.
62
Figure 2.14: Ding ware prunus vaseRu ware bowl-stand. Northern Song dynasty,
early 12th century. Diameter 17cm, height 6.5cm.
2.3.3 Guan Ware
2.3.3.1 Introduction of Guan Ware
After Jurchen Tartars invaded north China, Ru ware became part of history. The
Northern Song court had to abandon the old capital at Kai Feng in 1126 and move to the
south to reestablish a new capital Hangzhou in 1138. The physical hardship resulting from
war and relocation caused a longing for the old capital to run beneath the pleasant veneer
of life in the south. Since the bronze and jade ritual utilizations for the court use had been
abandoned when the court  ed south, the court needed the new supply of ritual and everyday
ceramics for court use.
Kilns were built near Hangzhou and were under the direct control of the imperial palace.
The imperfect pieces were smashed and the waster shreds were carefully gathered and buried
in two spots since the court strictly controlled the disposal of imperial wares.
Records state that two imperial kilns had been established at the capital at Hangzhou,
called Guan ware (literally, ?o cial ware?). Gu Wenjian of the Southern Song dynasty
stated:\During the Zhenhe reign period a porcelain kiln was set up by o cials in the capital.
It was named Guan kiln. After the new government was established in the south, Shao
63
Chengzhang managed the imperial rear gardens. He carried on the system of the old gov-
ernment and set up a kiln in Xiu Neisi, which was called Nei kiln, and specially produced
green ware. The product was exquisite, with well-re ned clay and a lustrous, clear glaze. It
became a new treasure of the world. Later another new kiln, also named Guan kiln, was set
up in Jiao Tianxia. Its product was quite pale compared to the Nei porcelains"[26].
The natural wish of Guan ware seemed to have been to try to reproduce the Ru ware,
even in the manner of  ring. It is said that potters of Ru ware move with the court to
Hangzhou to continue supplying the  ne ceramics to the court. Therefore, Guan ware
showed a clear derivation from Northern Ru ware and a most beautiful transition to the
Southern ware. Although similar to the Northern Ru ware in style and glaze, they have
de nite Southern characteristics of shape and technique.
2.3.3.2 Technique of Guan Ware
Guan ware was made of two di erent types of clay. One is greyish white,  ne-grained
clay and the other is blackish, rather sandy clay with high iron content. The greyish white
clay is slightly scorched with traces of light red and the blackish clay has a blackish brown
 nish. Guan ware was  red in reduction, and the characteristic dark brown or black color
on the unglazed rim and foot was caused by the high iron content of the body clay.
Guan ware has the special visual e ects on the appearance called ?purple mouth and
iron foot?, an interesting e ect at foot and mouth due to the trace of the dark body. The
vessel?s mouth is placed upwards and the glaze  ows downwards so that the glaze at the
mouth is thinner than on the rest of the body. The purple mouth is due to the fact that
the color of the clay is disclosed at the mouth. The iron foot is the raw edge of the clay
appearing at the foot rim [24]. These features can be seen on the vase (Figure 2.15), which
thins to reveal dark body tones at mouth and foot.
At  rst Guan ware was  red on small round spurs and some of the kiln equipment was
quite similar to Ru ware. Since the glaze of Guan ware is much thicker than Ru ware, the
64
Figure 2.15: Guan ware vase. Late Southern Song early Yuan dynasty, about
1250-1300. Diameter 8.6cm, height 13.4cm.
small spurs could stick. Later the glaze of the larger objects was wiped from the foot ring
and objects were  red on pads.
2.3.3.3 Glaze of Guan Ware
In Tao Lu, the author stated that the Guan ware was made of  ne unctuous glaze with
a thin body. The quality of glaze on Guan ware is equivalent to the highest grade of Ru
ware [27]. The opaque glaze and the greyish white clay were well suited to each other for
the glaze coated on the clay shows very little crazing. The glaze creates subtle variations
of gloss and color, while the black clay body deepens the glaze color to a dark and sombre
tone. The color of glaze on Guan ware is blue or green with a tinge of pale red and a varying
depth of tone. For the glaze color, the pale qing (blue or green) pieces are the best, the pale
white is second, while those with ash-colored glaze are very inferior.
65
There were ten specimens of Guan ware,  ve of which are explained as fen qing (pale blue
or green). Of the rest one is pale qing, clear and lustrous like a sapphire blue jewel, evidently
with a decidedly blue tinge; another is king- sher, blue as the clear blue sky, recalling the
Chai blue of the sky after rain; another is sky blue; another onion green, the color of onion
sprouts; and another is luan qing (egg green), which recalls and perhaps explains the luan
bai (egg white) of the Ru ware.
Glaze quality varied, but the high-quality wares had thin bodies over which the glaze
was opaque, had bubbles and was often crackled. The glaze was thickly applied in several
layers.
Due to the di erent contraction rates, the glaze on the blackish clay ware is patterned
with large and small crackles. The thick glaze coating causes tiny irregular cracks at acute
angles. Due to the di usion of light, the cracks create subtle variations of gloss and tone.
The glaze of the jar (Figure 2.16) is subtle and opaque. The glaze has a milky grey
tone, showing a bold black crackle. The thickness of the glaze layers was 0.5 to 2 millimetres,
formed in three to four applied layers by dipping, pouring, brushing on, or being blown on
in a  ne spray. The jar was glazed and  red several times to make the feeling that the
translucent glazes were similar to the color and texture of jade.
Figure 2.16: Guan ware jar. Late Southern Song early Yuan dynasty, about 1250-
1300. Diameter 12.5cm, height 9.9cm.
66
The lobed dish (Figure 2.17) has a  ne, dark stoneware body and a clear, blue-grey,
crackled glaze, which is thick and translucent. The dish is covered with  ne crackles, called
golden treads and iron wires.
Figure 2.17: Guan ware lobed dish. Southern Song dynasty, 13th century. Diam-
eter 16.8cm, height 3.9cm.
The body of the incense burner (Figure 2.18) is made of dark grey clay. The glaze on
it is thick, ash grey, with a  ne even crackling. Some of the crackle appears to be stained
from the outside, indicating that charcoal ash was applied after  ring.
Figure 2.18: Guan ware incense burner. Southern Song dynasty, 13 century.
Diameter 16.5cm, height 9cm.
67
2.3.3.4 Shapes of Guan Ware
The body and the shapes are the best criteria to judge the high-quality Guan ware.
The body of ware was very thin and there were a great variety of shapes of Guan ware [21].
Guan ware included various utensils from daily use to the specialized; some even imitated
the ancient bronze vessels.
One group included bowls, vases, dishes which had the foliated form, squat leys jars
(utensils for the dregs of wine or tea) and spittoons. All these had elegant proportions and
smooth pro les [30].
The bowl (Figure 2.19) had a foliated shape at the mouth which was one of the popular
forms in Ding ware. For another example, the elegant jar (Figure 2.16) also with foliated
rim was dark stoneware with thick, crackled glaze applied in many layers to a thickness that
forms welts under the base and inside.
The lobed dish (Figure 2.17) has an eight-pedalled  ower form, regarded as the simple
elegance of the wares admired by the Southern Song court. This form was described as
chestnut  ower, derived from the lacquer ware.
Figure 2.19: Guan ware bowl. Yuan dynasty. Diameter 17.8cm, height 16.3cm.
The other groups were derived from ancient bronze vessels, including a digni ed and
sombre ware. The foot was a little splayed and very elegant.
68
The incense burner has a wide body. Before  aring out to an everted rim, the body
contracts inward. The burner stands on a low foot that slants inward. The handles on either
side are derived from dragon or  sh form. The original shape came from ancient bronze
vessels called Gui (Figure 2.20) in the Western Zhou dynasty. The publication of volumes
in Xuanhe bogu tulu indicated that antiquarianism of ritual bronze vessels had considerable
in uence on the ceramic forms of the Song period [31].
Figure 2.20: Archaic bronze gui vessels. Western Zhou dynasty.
Moreover, the thick glaze covering the entire body except for the rim masked the pro le
and softened the outline of the ware. In the Southern Song dynasty, the softened outline
was one of the main characteristics of Guan ware.
2.3.4 Enameled Ware
Qing enameled porcelains are particularly noteworthy for their extremely faithful and
skillful productions that present some of the most di cult problems of attribution in ceramic
scholarship [36]. Ceramics produced in three reigns of Kangxi era, Yongzheng era and
Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty scored great achievements and reached its culmination.
The following is a timeline of the Qing Dynasty from Kangxi Dynasty to Qianlong Dynasty
(Figure 2.21).
69
1661-1722
Kangxi ear
1735-1795
Qianlong ear
1722-1735
Yongzheng era
Figure 2.21: Part of history timeline in the Qing Dynasty
2.3.4.1 Introduction of Enameled Ware
French cloisonne, European paint enamels on gold and copper, was imported to China
in the Qing dynasty. The enamelled wares style was derived from the new taste for European
technology and potteries and attempted to apply this new technology to porcelain rather
than metal. There is no doubt that Western artistic style strongly in uenced painting on the
enamelled ware in the Qing period. Also there is equally little doubt that Chinese famille
rose techniques are quite distinct from European.
In the west, enamelled wares in the Qing period have been classi ed into two types,
famille verte (wu cai) and famille rose (fen cai), which were based on the dominate colors in
design, green and rose [32].
Famille verte ware became popular in the Kangxi era and the most excellent examples
of famille verte were created in the Kangxi era. However, famille rose, tracing back to the
 nal years of the Kangxi era, gradually replaced famille verte in the mainstream of o cial
enamelled wares. Famille rose, as a revolutionary new type of enamelled ware resulted from
the adoption of European cloisonne techniques, and the most delicate enamelled wares were
produced in the Yongzheng era. Famille rose included a pink color as well as opaque white,
which was mixed with other colors to make a wider range of shades and tones than was
possible before.
70
Guyue ware, specially made for the emperor, is regarded as the  nest famille rose ware
due to its splendid quality and rarity. The name of Guyue probably came from the name of
a speci c storehouse in the imperial palace. Guyue ware is characteristic for the porcelain
body, the shape, the overglaze, the color enamels and the motifs all combined in superb
harmony. The imperial stoneware experimented to develop the new decorative techniques
that were used widely at Jing Dezhen later. After the porcelain wares were  red in the
o cial kilns in Jing Dezhen, they were carefully carried to the imperial palace in Beijing.
The elaborate motifs were painted by the eminent painters from the Painting Academy
School. Guyue ware has an elegant painting style in Chinese taste with European  gures
since the style of this ware was in uenced by Europe. The drawing was represented by the
light, shade and perspective.
2.3.4.2 Glaze of Enameled Ware
One noteworthy feature of enamelled ware is its brilliant, translucent white, gemlike
quality[33].
The clay body of enamelled ware is a pure white with an overglaze coating. The glaze
was composed of thirteen bowls of white glaze to which a bowl of lique ed fern ash has been
added. The glaze on the enamelled ware had two major features. One is the very high
melting point which is especially suitable for porcelains, and the other is an opaque quality
which will allow the underglaze motif to show through only indistinctly [33].
Famille rose is a ware with colored enamels painted on a pure white porcelain body,
which is actually coated with an opaque white glaze, but the transparent glaze has the vitre-
ous quality which creates a blue tinge. According to Pere d?Entrecolles, \Though porcelain
is naturally white, and the glaze applied to it serves to argument this white even more, yet
there are certain designs in favour of which one applies a particular white substance on the
porcelain, which is then painted in di erent colors"[33]. That?s why the translucent, opaque
white overglaze was more suitable for the enamelled wares. A lustreless white powder, the
71
special white substance, served to create an absorbent surface that facilitated the painting
of  nely shaded areas of the motifs. It is a special type of glaze base applied on famille rose
ware.
As the  nest enamelled ware, Guyue ware had a pure and warm opaque white glaze that
could be immediately felt when it is compared with other o cial wares. Guyue enamelled
ware utilized extremely  ne-quality clay and overglaze. In the high temperature of the kiln,
the body and overglaze fuse together into one material since they are composed of the same
substance. Therefore, the ware appears like a jewel, the glaze indistinguishable from the
body.
2.3.4.3 Colors of Enameled Ware
Compared with other wares in the Qing dynasty, famille rose was has more e eminate
beauty mainly due to its color [34].
The famille rose palette includes delicate yellows, pale greens, blues and many shades
of lilac varied with black, gold and iron-red.
There are two features of the famille rose palette of opaque enamels, which di ers from
previous overglaze polychrome enamels. First, the range of rose pink color tone became
wider, from the palest blush of pink to a deep ruby. The opaque colors could be mixed with
other pigments to create new colors so that the range of color value enormously increased
for the  rst time. White was the most useful enamel because it creates subtleties of shades
on the famille rose ware in much the same way as the oil painter does, since a wide range of
subtle variations of tone could be obtained by simply changing the ratio of colored enamels to
white enamel. The increased range of subtle variations of tone re ned the details of painting
on famille ware. Additionally, a diversity of mixed tint were created by combining colors.
Sometimes harsh iron-red was mixed with the gentle hues of famille rose and the result of
the combination could be surprisingly e ective.
72
Famille rose wares in the Yongzheng era, one of the most exquisite Chinese porcelains,
were prized for the delicately painted ornament on a superbly clear white ground.
Motifs, such as fruit and  owers, painted on the ware required subtle shading and
gradation of tone. For instance, for the peach motifs (Figure 2.20), show a gradation of color
tone ranging from a faint, cream white, to a cream yellow, to orange, and  nally to a deep
red tone.
This dish is made of pure white porcelain. The dish has the slightly uneven surface
called chicken skin like many overglaze enamel wares in that period [35]. The dish is painted
with famille rose enamels with the design of bats, peach, tree peony, and prunus  owers.
The decoration extends from the top of the foot ring on the outside of the dish to the inside.
The interior and exterior design is regarded as a whole. For instance, there are two bats in
iron red painted inside and three outside. Five bats were also a popular symbol on Chinese
decorative arts because its name suggests  ve blessings. The branches of the peach and tree
peony are painted with grey enamel and the prunus is rendered in red brown. The peaches,
painted in pinks and green enamel, are symbols of longevity. Stippling technique indicates
the texture of the peach surface. The prunus  owers are painted with rose pink enamel and
the tree-peony with great delicacy are depicted with pale green and the blended enamel of
white and pink. The stamens of the  owers look like tiny relief dots of yellow.
Figure 2.22: Large dish. Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period (1723-
35). Diameter 50.8cm, height 8.9cm.
73
2.3.4.4 Shapes of Enameled Ware
Famille rose ware was prized in ?Tao Lu? for its extreme re nement and elegance. This
statement is fully justi ed by the porcelain itself no less than by its decoration. The porcelain
shows marvelous skills and the forms display vigour.
The ordinary wares in the Yongzheng reign di ers but little from that of previous reign.
However, a noticeable change is the base rim of vases and bowls. The rounded or angular
 nish replaced the bevelling edge and the foot rim became almost V-shaped (Figure 2.23).
Figure 2.23: Vase. 1930s. Diameter 8.8cm, height 14.7cm.
2.3.4.5 Decoration of Enameled Ware
The exquisite beauty of the decoration on the enamelled ware is especially astonishing.
The style applied on famille rose is consistent with European style, without outlines and
with a sense of perspective.
Famille rose underwent a great improvement of re nement from the Yongzheng reign to
the Qianlong reign since they were produced in the o cial kilns. The general character of
74
enameled decoration in the Yongzheng era is the epitome of delicacy and restraint in painting.
The decoration on the later Qianlong famille rose is over-elaborate and overcrowded while
this feature is not observable at the Yongzheng period. On the contrary, the ornaments were
elegant and restrained e ects and plenty of space is left for the  ne quality of the white
background. The restraint of decoration makes the porcelain quiet and the blank areas
enhance the motifs on famille rose ware. The  neness of the decoration is nicely balanced
with the elegant  nish of the porcelain itself, which is the singular distinction and charm of
the Yongzheng enameled wares [36].
The body material of this teapot and cup (Figure 2.24) is pure white porcelain and the
glaze has a smooth and glossy surface. They are painted with a design of lotus blossoms
and leaves in famille rose enamels in Guyue style. The knob of the teapot bears a stylized
shou (longevity) character. The lotus  owers are a popular motif on Chinese decorative arts
because it symbolizes the summer and purity and relates to Buddhism.
The delicate painting of leaves and  owers on the teapot and cups are treated in two
di erent styles. The leaves were shaded with di erent tones of transparent green enamel in
discrete areas and tiny black dots and lines are added to indicate the texture of the leaves.
The  owers are depicted with the blended colors of white and pink. The petals of white
blossoms are outlined in dark enamel, while a narrow area around the petal without the
enamel indicates the edges of the pink blossoms.
The same poetic inscription is written in black enamel on both the teapot and the cup,
which can be translated, Pure as the virtue of the superior man, / Elegant as the maquillage
of a great beauty.
Most famille rose porcelains in the early Qianlong era still followed the court taste in
the Yongzheng era, exhibiting the same elegance and re nement of the imperial wares as
prior examples. Since the Western principle of drawing techniques were imported into the
Chinese court and learned by the Chinese artists. A new three-dimensional e ect became
75
Figure 2.24: Teapot and cup. Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period
(1723-35).
the particular and interesting characteristics in the painting of  gures and objects on the
Qianlong famille rose porcelains.
Toward the later Qianlong era, a di erent feature was taken on the famille rose wares.
The free and fresh style of painting had been changed to the labored and pedantic style. The
over-decorated trend smothered the porcelain with the painting, which occupied more and
more white breathing space. The bowl (Figure 2.25) is an impressive and  ne model to show
the tendency towards excessive ornamentation of late eighteenth-century porcelain [36].
Figure 2.25: Pink lotus bowl with  oral brocade. Qing dynasty, Qianlong
reign(1736-1795). Diameter 15.9cm, height 7.6cm.
76
The common motifs on famille ware include birds and  owers, grasses and insects, and
trees and rocks. Bird and  owers were obviously regarded as the most popular motifs for the
famille rose enameled technique. The connoisseur of famille rose in the Qing period stated
with admiration: \... the  ower motifs painted on the Yongzheng ware should be regarded as
being in the style of Yun School. The exquisiteness of the painting without outlines should
be likened to that of Xu Xi. The grasses and insect motifs are most  nely executed. Their
startling reality is such that one ties to brush away the  les on a vessel before realizing
that they are only painted on." The existing examples show that this description is not
exaggerated [33].
For Guyue ware, the decoration motifs are the same as those found on the ordinary
famille rose ware. The motifs of landscapes and scenes with human  gures are rare. How-
ever, the motifs of Western people in European costume are outstanding for their exotic
eccentricity.
Another popular style of famille rose motifs are surrounded by a background  lled by the
regular enamels, such as purplish red, light blue, yellow-green, and emerald-green enamels.
In addition to the polychrome motifs, mocai ware is a special type of peculiar motif
painted in monochrome enamels. Landscape scenes in several shades of black enamel are
painted on enameled ware with the e ect of an ink painting on a scroll. The monochrome
enamels are various from indigo blue to purplish red with the same tone gradation.
In addition to the decoration motifs on famille rose ware, the poetic inscription suitable
to the motif was painted on many Guyue ware. The poetic verses are usually couplets of
 ve or seven characters executed in the elegant, semicursive style. The poetic inscriptions
usually combine with seals.
The immaculate bowl (Figure 2.26) has a particular style. The painting begins from
the exterior surface of the bowl, continues over the edge and ends at the inside of the bowl
showing the mocai style. The bowl is made of pure white porcelain. A smooth, glossy glaze
with sepia enamel decorates the bowl. Imitating the ink paintings, the style painted with
77
sepia enamel is called mocai style. The design of the  owering prunus branch rises from just
above the foot ring on the outside of the bowl and continues over the edge of the mouth rim
to the inside. The prunus is associated with beauty (mei) and regarded as a harbinger of
spring. The other side of the bowl bears a poetic inscription written in black enamel, which
can be translated, By the moonlight the shadows / Of the plum blossom  utter; / The ink
slab sends forth / A subtle fragrance.
Figure 2.26: Bowl. Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period (1725-35).
Diameter 12.7cm, height 6.3cm.
78
Chapter 3
The design Guidelines of Cultural Aesthetic Elements Integrated in Tableware Design
Inspiration comes from in-depth study of the source material Dream of the Red Cham-
ber from many di erent perspectives. The source material in various categories, such as
clothing, ornaments and furniture, is delved deeply and studied under di erent conditions.
The material collected in Chapter 2 is explored in a varied way form, proportion, texture,
color, pattern, balance and repetition. This chapter will summarize the consideration of each
of these areas to develop the design guidelines of cultural aesthetic elements integrated in
tableware design.
3.1 Form
In ceramics design, shape is generally described as a two-dimensional idea. Shape de-
signing is an important step of the process. The shapes can be understood by drawing on
paper to show the minor adjustments and alterations to the pro le and detail.
The pro le is referred to as the most essential design line. The pro le is the line that
shows the outside shape, the view from the side [17]. The pro le can be taut, elegant or soft.
A small alteration will cause a profound e ect on the overall appearance of the object.
Table 3.1 lists the shape of items mentioned in Dream of Red Chamber.
Table 3.1: Shape description
Category Sub-category Description
Continued on next page
79
Table 3.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Natural
Peony
Granny Liu was struck by the daintiness and
variety of the small pastries. Selecting one
shaped like a peony she said: \The cleverest
girls in our village couldn?t make scissor cuts
as good as this".
Plum
A packaging of  ne plum-petal snow-white
sugar from Alpinia Park.
Two slabs of perfumed incense shaped like
plum-blossom from her pouch.
At each side stood a low table of foreign lacquer
in the shape of plum-blossom.
The casket containing the four silver molds.
More than a foot long and about one inch
across, they were inset with more than thirty
delicately fashioned shapes no larger than peas
chrysanthemum, plum-blossom, lotus  ower,
caltrop and the like.
Chrysanthemum
The casket containing the four silver molds.
More than a foot long and about one inch
across, they were inset with more than thirty
delicately fashioned shapes no larger than peas
- chrysanthemum, plum-blossom, lotus  ower,
caltrop and the like.
Continued on next page
80
Table 3.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Natural
Palm leaves
There were only partitions formed of shelves
for books, bronze tripods, stationery,  ower
vases and miniature gardens, some round, some
square, some shaped like sun owers, palm
leaves or intersecting arcs.
A tiny red soapstone cup shaped like a palm
leaf.
Lotus
In front of each table was a candelabrum of
Western enamel with a lacquer shade in the
shape of an inverted lotus leaf.
A large emerald plate in the form of a lotus
leaf.
The casket containing the four silver molds.
More than a foot long and about one inch
across, they were inset with more than thirty
delicately fashioned shapes no larger than peas
chrysanthemum, plum-blossom, lotus  ower,
caltrop and the like.
Sun ower
There were only partitions formed of shelves
for books, bronze tripods, stationery,  ower
vases and miniature gardens, some round, some
square, some shaped like sun owers, plantain
leaves or intersecting arcs.
Clove Her knots of clove and her hibiscus belt.
Continued on next page
81
Table 3.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Natural
Crab-apple blossom
A carved lacquer tea-tray in the shape of crab-
apple blossom, inlaid with a golden design of
the cloud dragon o ering longevity.
Caltrop
The casket containing the four silver molds.
More than a foot long and about one inch
across, they were inset with more than thirty
delicately fashioned shapes no larger than peas
- chrysanthemum, plum-blossom, lotus  ower,
caltrop and the like.
Cluster
A colored tasseled palace sash with clusters of
designs.
Animal
Dragon
From there they went on some way until ahead
of them loomed towering pavilions enclosed by
magni cent buildings, all of them connected by
winding passageways. Green pines brushed the
eaves, white balustrades skirted the steps, the
animal designs glittered like gold and the coiled
dragon-heads blazed with color.
Her necklet, of red gold, was in the form of a
coiled dragon studded with gems.
A golden torque in the likeness of a coiled
dragon.
Phoenix
Her hair-clasps, in the form of  ve phoenixes
facing the sun, had pendants of pearls.
Continued on next page
82
Table 3.1 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Animal
Phoenix A gold  ligree phoenix tiara inlaid with peals.
Unicorn
A gold unicorn decorated with turquoise
enamel.
Fish
Rose-red jade pendants in the form of double-
 at sh.
To its right, suspended on a lacquer frame,
was a white jade musical stone in the form of
double- at sh, with a small hammer next to it.
Geometrical
Round
There were only partitions formed of shelves
for books, bronze tripods, stationery,  ower
vases and miniature gardens, some round, some
square, some shaped like sun owers, plantain
leaves or intersecting arcs.
The eight precious things
Golden pendants in the form of the eight pre-
cious things.
The carriage shared by Baochai and Diayu was
gay with a verdancy awning, pearl-tassels and
designs of the eight precious things.
The percentage in the  gure 3.1 is based on the number of descriptions for each item
cited in Dream of the Red Chamber. For instance, there are 27 descriptions relevant to
shape, 16 descriptions of natural shape (59%), 8 of animal shape (29%), 3 of geometrical
shape (12%). Based on the percentage of each category, the pie chart in Figure 3.1 is drawn.
83
Plants
59%
Animals
29%
Geometry
12%
Figure 3.1: Shape analysis
Table 3.1 and Figure 3.1 illustrate that the  oral form is predominant in the novel, from
peony, plum, chrysanthemum, lotus, sun ower, clove and crab-apple blossom.
From the study of these four wares, the features of the shape are summarized below.
The shapes of tableware sought to imitate  ower and foliation forms. The plates imitate
the foliation shape by the simple V-shaped cuts in the lip (Figure3.2).
A series of shapes became popular for wares of better quality: wares in  ower shapes
with petal design, at  rst with straight lips and a pro le similar to a buttercup, later with
a more  ared lip and even a  ange (Figure 3.3).
In conclusion, the shapes of tableware have a tendency of imitating  oral forms.
3.2 Proportion
When a shape is designed, a form is created. Form has a particular quality and propor-
tion, which is determined by the initial shape design.
Table 3.2 lists the description related to proportion in Dream of Red Chamber.
84
Figure 3.2: Pro les of the plates
Figure 3.3: Pro les of the saucers
Table 3.2: Proportion description
Category Sub-category Description
Proportion Wider
Ru ware vase the size of a peck measure was  lled with
chrysanthemums white as crystal balls.
Continued on next page
85
Table 3.2 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Proportion Wider
That evening when Daiyu went into the inner room to
get ready for bed, the sight of the jar of licheers reminded
her of the old woman?s maundering.(The form of jar is
similar to the form of licheers)
A large gilded cloisonne brazier, its three legs in the form
of elephant trucks.
To their east stood a carved openwork dragon-screen with
below it a low couch spread with cushions, pillows and
furs.
Proportion Slender
Scarlet archer?s jacket, embroidered with golden butter-
 ies and  owers.
On the right one, a slender-waisted porcelain vase from
the Ru Ware containing  owers then in season.
Her close- tting scarlet satin jacket was embroidered
with gold butter ies and  owers.
A narrow-sleeved, none to new yellowish green satin tunic
lined with white squirrel, with fur-lined cu s and collar,
which was embroidered with dragons in gold thread and
colored silks.
A yellowish green archer?s jacket embroidered with ser-
pents and lined with white fox-fur.
An arche?s jacket embroidered with white serpents.
A scarlet archer?s jacket embroidered with golden dragons
and lined with fox-fur.
Continued on next page
86
Table 3.2 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Proportion Slender A fox-fur archer?s jacket.
Wider
31%
Slender
69%
Figure 3.4: Proportion analysis
Table 3.2 and Figure 3.4 illustrate that the slender proportion is predominant.
3.3 Texture
Clay, an amazingly versatile medium, can be shaped into almost any form. Designers
should pay attention to the surface quality of the object. The surface qualities of the material
used to make the object are developed to enhance the  nal detail of a design.
Table 3.3 lists the descriptions related to texture on the items in Dream of Red Chamber.
87
Table 3.3: Texture Descrip
Category Sub-category Description
Impressed Carved
In front of each couch stood two carved lacquer teapots of
di erent shapes with pyrus-blossom, plum-blossom, lotus
and sun  ower designs, some square, some round, one of
which held an incense-burner, a vase and a box of various
sweatments.
To their east stood a carved openwork dragon-screen with
below it a low couch spread with cushions, pillows and
furs.
On the large red sandalwood table carved with dragons
They were now at the foot of a marble arch  nely carved
with rampant dragons and coiling serpents.
There were only partitions formed of shelves for books,
bronze tripods, stationery,  ower vases and miniature
gardens, some round, some square, some shaped like sun-
 owers, plantain leaves or intersecting arcs. They were
beautifully carved with the motifs clouds and a hundred
bats of the three companions of winter - pine, plum and
bamboo - as well as landscapes and  gures, birds and
 owers, scrollwork, imitation curios and symbols of good
fortune or long life. All executed by the  nest craftsmen,
they were brilliantly colored and inlaid with gold or pre-
cious stones. The e ect was splendid, the workmanship
exquisite.
Continued on next page
88
Table 3.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Impressed
Carved
Twelve carved lacquer chairs covered with grey squirrel-
skins.
The tablet over the entrance to the main hall was en-
graved with frolicking dragons, and bore the intagliated
motto in blue:Venerate the Departed, Continue Their
Sacri ces.
Teacups made in a previous reign; and gay little teapots
 lled with the  nest tea on a small tray of Western lac-
quer ware. Set out too was a scarlet gauze screen in a
carved purple-sandalwood frame embroidered with  ow-
ers and calligraphy.
A small carved, double-circle foreign lacquer tray.
Inset
Her turquoise cape, lined with white squirrel, was inset
with designs in colored silk.
A turquoise cape lined with grey squirrel, inset with de-
signs.
Of the one hundred and twenty satin curtains embroi-
dered with serpents and large and small black-dotted
brocade hangings inset with di erent designs and colors.
An ermine-lined peach-red silk tapestry jacket inset with
a hundred-beads design.
The fox-fur-lined coat of turquoise silk tapestry inset
with eight circular designs.
Continued on next page
89
Table 3.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Impressed Inset
The red boots lined with lambskin and inset with a gold-
thread cloud-design applique.
Embossed
Raised
A turquoise fringed coat of Japanese satin with a raised
pattern of  owers in eight bunches.
Of the one hundred and twenty satin curtains embroi-
dered with serpents and large and small black-dotted
brocade hangings inset with di erent designs and colors.
Melon-green covered bowls with a raised golden designs
of new Imperial kiln porcelain.
Her skirt of verdancy crepe was patterned with  owers.
A skirt of scarlet foreign crepe lined with snow-weasel
fur.
A blue crepe tunic lined with a curly sheepskin.
Studded
Her necklet, of red gold, was in the form of a coiled dragon
studded with gems.
Continued on next page
90
Table 3.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Embossed Studded
There were only partitions formed of shelves for books,
bronze tripods, stationery,  ower vases and miniature
gardens, some round, some square, some shaped like sun-
 owers, plantain leaves or intersecting arcs. They were
beautifully carved with the motifs clouds and a hundred
bats of the three companions of winter - pine, plum and
bamboo - as well as landscapes and  gures, birds and
 owers, scrollwork, imitation curios and symbols of good
fortune or long life. All executed by the  nest craftsmen,
they were brilliantly colored and inlaid with gold or pre-
cious stones. The e ect was splendid, the workmanship
exquisite.
A golden coronet studded with jewels.
A golden  ligree coronet studded with gems.
A red leather belt studded with green jade.
A gold  ligree necklet studded with pearls as large as
lotus seeds.
A gold  ligree phoenix tiara inlaid with peals.
Two inscriptions inlaid in mother-of-pearl on the black
lacquer tablets hanging on the pillars.
Multicolored lacquered hampers inlaid with gilt designs.
A red silk coat and a blue satin sleeveless jacket with silk
borders.
A black satin sleeveless jacket with silk borders.
Continued on next page
91
Table 3.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Painted
Black-dotted
Black-dotted antimacassars.
Black-dotted stockings with brocade borders.
Of the one hundred and twenty satin curtains embroi-
dered with serpents and large and black-dotted small
brocade hangings inset with di erent designs and colors.
Wrapper was of black-dotted silk gauze, line with pink
silk.
A thin padded silk tunic with black dots.
Green black-dotted satin trousers.
Gilded
A small  at, golden-starred glass case with gilt double-
catches.
A ruby-ear-ring set in gold the size of a gingko nut.
A large gilded cloisonne brazier, its three legs in the form
of elephant trucks.
By the walls were a row of sixteen cedar-wood armchairs;
and above these hung two panels of ebony with the fol-
lowing couplet gilded in silver.
Everyone also had a tarnished silver sine-pot with en-
graved designs and variegated cloisonn cup.
Before the porch hung a placard gilded with the nine-
dragon design, and the inscription Stars Shine on the
Assistant, which had been written by the late Emperor
himself.
Continued on next page
92
Table 3.3 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Painted Gilded
A carved lacquer tea-tray in the shape of crab-apple blos-
som, gilded with a golden design of the cloud dragon of-
fering longevity.
Baoyu saw a newly written couplet on purple paper with
gilded cloud-dragon designs.
Twelve scarlet tapestry scenes from the opera Every Son
a high Minister on one side and one the other gilded
depictions of the character Longevity in various styles of
calligraphy.
Impressed
32%
Embossing
36%
Painting
32%
Figure 3.5: Texture analysis
93
Table 3.3 and Figure 3.5 illustrate that the percentages of these three texture methods
is quite equal.
Additionally, the tableware from Ding ware is decorated with impressed design, which is
a pattern engraved into the surface. The aesthetic underlying impressed decoration is both
formal and elaborate. Intaglio creates a really interesting, ghost-like quality when the glaze
is applied. The carved decoration on the surface is under the glaze, so it does not emphasize
the design.
The decoration can be incised freehand on the wares when they dry to leather-hardness.
The ornaments were carved by the broad, sweeping and sloping lines which were emphasized
by the parallel  ne lines. Decoration can also be molded and cast so that the engraved design
is trapped in the cast body.
Molding decoration usually is applied to the interiors of open form, and the exteriors of
wares are incised by hand.
In conclusion, the texture methods of embossing, impressing and painting can be applied
on the surface of the tableware.
3.4 Color
One of clay?s thrilling merits is that there are a number of di erent coloring techniques
that can be applied to the wares like the actual clay body, the glaze, underglaze and on-
glaze enamel. Di erent color approaches demonstrate di erent color qualities and depth.
The color of an object can strengthen the form and surface of the design.
Table 3.4 lists the description related to items color in Dream of Red Chamber.
94
Table 3.4: Color Description
Category Sub-category Description
Red Red
The lotus-seed and date broth.
Date congee.
A porcelain casket made in the Xuan De period.
A red leather belt studded with green jade.
Two strings of red beads scented with musk.
Her new embroidered red slippers.
A red silk coat and a blue satin sleeveless jacket with silk
borders.
Two hundred of red lacquered bamboo with gold  ecks.
A red silk sutra wrapper with a dragon design.
A white silk stomacher lined with red.
A red silk coat.
The red boots lined with lambskin and inset with a gold-
thread cloud-design applique.
A padded red silk jacket.
The green trousers and red slippers.
The red silk pants and red slippers.
The red silk chemise.
The red pants and green socks.
A red skirt.
Continued on next page
95
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Red Scarlet
Twelve scarlet tapestry scenes from the opera Every Son
a high Minister on one side and one the other gilded
depictions of the character Longevity in various styles of
calligraphy.
Biyun held out a large emerald plate in the form of a lotus
leaf, on which were chrysanthemums of di erent kinds.
The lady Dowager selected a scarlet one and pinned it in
her hair.
A scarlet crepe inner jacket.
Her close- tting scarlet satin jacket was embroidered
with gold butter ies and  owers.
The scarlet archer?s jacket, embroidered with golden but-
ter ies and  owers.
The thick-soled scarlet shoes.
A soft scarlet  owered portiere.
A skirt of scarlet foreign crepe lined with snow-weasel fur
Forty rolls of scarlet  owered satin.
A scarlet camlet cloak which buttoned in front.
A scarlet archer?s tunic embroidered with golden dragons
and lined with fox-fur.
The scarlet curtains embroidered in gold.
A scarlet tunic.
The scarlet gauze tunic.
A scarlet silk cape lined with white fox-fur.
Continued on next page
96
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Red
Scarlet
Scarlet silk back-rests and bolsters embroidered with
Dragons in the Clouds designs and the character
Longevity.
A scarlet linen jacket.
A scarlet jacket.
The scarlet jacket.
A pair of scarlet trousers.
A scarlet crepe inner jacket.
In the middle were scarlet back-rests and turquoise bol-
sters, both with dragon-design medallions.
Crimson
Two hundred portieres of crimson.
A crimson woolen cape.
The crimson cape of wool or satin.
A hooded crimson woolen cape.
A crimson woolen hood with a gosling-yellow applique of
cloud designs and a golden lining.
The large Kang by the window was covered with a crim-
son foreign rug.
The crimson velvet pompon, the size of a walnut.
A couple of crimson cornelian rings.
Double rose-red jade pendants in the form of double-
 at sh.
A rose-red sleeveless jacket lined with brown- and snow-
weasel fur.
Continued on next page
97
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Red
Ruby A ruby-ear-ring set in gold the size of a gingko nut.
Pomergranat-red
The pomegranate-red trousers with  oral designs.
The pomegranate-red silk.
Silver-red
The silver-red jacket.
The coat of a  ower pattern on a silver-red ground.
A silver-red linen shirt.
Several rolls of silver-red cicada.
This soft-mist silk comes in four colors only:Light blue,
yellowish green, dark-green and silver-red.
Below the kang facing the west wall were four armchairs,
their covers of silver-red dotted with pink  owers.
Peach-red
An ermine-lined peach-red silk tapestry jacket inset with
a hundred-beads design.
A peach-red  owered jacket.
A peach-red silk-padded quilt.
A peach-red silk shift.
Apricot-red An apricot-red silk quilt.
Bright pink
A bright pink silk jacket.
Her bright pink satin breeches were lined with fox fur.
Bright Pink
Wrapper was of black-dotted silk gauze, line with bright
pink silk.
Bright pink trousers with a  oral design.
Cerise A cerise padded jacket.
Continued on next page
98
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Red
Cerise
A pink embroidered silk padded skirt of the kind worn
by lady Yang.
Baoyu chose a sheet of pink paper with a gilded border
and  oral design on one of the top and bottom corners.
Vermilion
And on both sides below the steps, tall vermilion candles
blazed like golden dragons.
Green
Green
A big bowl of hot green rice.
Half a bowl of green-rice porridge.
A glossy green satin mattress with a golden center.
The green linen underclothes.
A green girdle.
The green black-dotted satin trousers.
The green trousers and red slippers.
The red pants and green socks.
The green jade beaker.
A green and gold plaited belt with double rings.
Viridity
An old bronze tripod, viridity with patina, stood about
three feet high.
Pea-green Pea-green tassels attached to her skirt.
Dark green A dark green satin jacket lined with sheepskin.
Dark green
She had on a tight- tting bodice with a bold border and
rows of long buttons and loops in front, over which she
had tied a node to a new dark green sash.
The glimpsed dark green glowered satin trousers.
Continued on next page
99
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Green
Dark green
This soft-mist silk comes in four colors only:Light blue,
yellowish green, dark-green and pink.
A dark green satin jacket.
Glossy dark green silk trousers embroidered with  owers.
Verdancy
Her skirt of verdancy crepe was patterned with  owers.
A blue lacquered carriage with verdancy curtains.
The carriage shared by Baochai and Diayu was gay with
a verdancy awning, pearl-tassels and designs of the eight
precious things.
Yellowish green
A yellowish green archer?s jacket embroidered with ser-
pents and lined with white fox-fur.
This soft-mist silk comes in four colors only:Light blue,
yellowish green, dark-green and pink.
A narrow-sleeved, none to new yellowish green satin tunic
lined with white squirrel, with fur-lined cu s and collar,
which was embroidered with dragons in gold thread and
colored silks.
A yellowish green silk sash.
A long yellowish green mattress also with dragon medal-
lions.
Leek-green
A leek-green  owered portiere.
A leek-green padded skirt embroidered with colored silk
and gold thread.
A leek-green bodice.
Continued on next page
100
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Green
Leek-green A leek-green silk bodice.
Pale green A pale green skirt.
Jade-color
A jade-colored gauze cushion  led with all sorts of fresh
rose and peony petals.
A short lined satin jacketa patchwork of red, blue and
jade-colored squares.
Willow-green A willow-green sash.
Blue
Sapphire blue
A sapphire blue embroidered padded skirt.
A sapphire blue embroidered padded skirt.
Light blue
This soft-mist silk comes in four colors only:Light blue,
yellowish green, dark-green and pink.
French blue
A French blue gown lined with white squirrel.
A French blue gown lined with white squirrel.
Turquoise
A turquoise fringed coat of Japanese satin with a raised
pattern of  owers in eight bunches.
A turquoise cape lined with grey squirrel, inset with de-
sign.
Her turquoise cape, lined with white squirrel, was inset
with designs in colored silk.
A fringed turquoise sable coat.
The fox-fur-lined coat of turquoise silk tapestry inset
with eight circular designs.
Continued on next page
101
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Blue
Turquoise
His brown velvet archer?s coat lined with fox fur, a scarlet
felt jacket embroidered with gold thread. Its turquoise
satin border was fringed with tassels.
In the middle were red back-rests and turquoise bolsters,
both with dragon-design medallions.
Those trousers, with that green jacket and the turquoise
boots make a vivid foil for black hair and a snow-white
complexion.
Blue
The blue gauze.
A red silk coat and a blue satin sleeveless jacket with silk
borders.
A blue silk tunic lined with a curly sheepskin.
A gown of blue velvet buttoned down the middle.
A lined blue silk sleeveless jacket.
A blue lacquered carriage with king sher-blue curtains.
Pale-blue
The pale-blue gauze.
The pale-blue satin tunic.
A pale blue satin jacket.
Purple
Light purple
A light purple silk tunic.
A new lilac blue linen gown.
Purple
A purple velvet gown lined with fox-fur.
A purple woolen gown.
Baoyu saw a newly written couplet on purple paper with
gilded cloud-dragon designs.
Continued on next page
102
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Purple
Dark purple
A short lined satin jacket - a patchwork of dark purple,
blue and jade-colored squares.
Pale purple
A pale purple woolen cape embroidered with  ower de-
sign.
Yellow
Honey-color A honey-colored padded jacket.
Leek-yellow A skirt of leek-yellow silk.
Black Black
The dark steatite tripod.
Two hundred of black lacquered bamboo.
A black silk umbrella.
The court boots were of black satin with white soles.
A sleeveless black satin jacket.
A black satin coat lined with squirrel.
The black satin sleeveless jacket.
A black satin sleeveless jacket with silk borders.
The black satin cape.
A long, sleeveless checked jacketed with dark silk borders.
White White
A princely silver-winged cap with white tassels.
A white robe embroidered with zigzag wave patterns and
 ve-clawed dragons.
An archer?s jacket embroidered with white serpents.
A white silk sash.
The white silk damask skirt.
A white silk stomacher lined with red.
A white silk skirt.
Continued on next page
103
Table 3.4 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
White White
The white silk skirt.
A pale-while embroidered fur-lined jacket.
A short white squirrel tunic.
A white skirt with dark designs.
The pale grey silk padded jacket.
A pale grey plain silk tunic.
Melon-green covered bowls with a raised golden designs
of new Imperial kiln porcelain.
To its right, suspended on a lacquer frame, was a white
jade musical stone in the form of double- at sh, with a
small hammer next to it.
Multi-color Multi-color
A colored tasseled palace sash.
A silk cord of  ve colors.
A sash embroidered with many-colored butter ies.
Her turquoise cape, lined with white squirrel, was inset
with designs in colored silk.
Two hundred woven with colored silks.
A long-tasseled colored butter y belt.
Small tiger-head battle boots decorated with multi-
colored curling clouds.
Table 3.4 and Figure 3.6 illustrate that the red color is predominant with 43% of the
items? color.
104
Figure 3.6: Color analysis
3.5 Pattern
Patterns can be applied to almost any form to enhance the  nal design. An object can
be designed to appeal to di erent tastes by applying di erent styles of pattern, allowing one
form to be used a number of times.
Traditionally, industrial designers have focused on either shape or pattern design. Whereas
shape designers concentrate on the shape of the object, pattern designers concern themselves
only with the design of patterns to be applied to the collections.
Table 3.5 lists the description related to patterns on the items in Dream of Red Chamber.
Table 3.5: Pattern description
Category Sub-category Description
Floral Lotus
There were two couches on the north side, left and right,
spread with brocade cushions and velvet coverlets in a
lotus pattern.
Continued on next page
105
Table 3.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Floral
Lotus
A bamboo mat woven in a lotus pattern.
Her knots of clove and her hibiscus belt.
A white silk stomacher lined with red, which she was
embroidering with mandarin ducks at play among some
lotus. The lotus  owers were pink, the leaves green, and
the ducks a medley of colors.
Plum A tarnished silver pot with a plum-blossom design.
Passion- owers
The walls were of polished bricks of a uniform color, and
the white marble steps were carved with passion- owers.
Flowers
The pomegranate-red trousers with  oral designs.
Her skirt of verdancy crepe was patterned with  owers.
The coat of a  ower pattern on a silver-red ground.
Glimpsed turquoise glowered satin trousers with a  ower
pattern.
A soft scarlet  owered portiere.
A peach-red  owered jacket.
Scarlet curtains embroidered in gold  owers.
A soft leek-green  owered portiere.
The  owered green silk lined trousers.
The bright pink trousers with a  oral design.
The soft  owered portiere.
Below the kang facing the west wall were four armchairs,
their covers of silver-red dotted with pink  owers, and
with four footstools beneath them.
Continued on next page
106
Table 3.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Floral Flower
A pink embroidered silk padded skirt of the kind worn
by lady Yang.
A sapphire blue embroidered padded skirt.
Several rolls of silver-red cicada - wing gauze in one of
the chests. There are several di erent designs - sprays of
blossom,  oating clouds and bats, butter ies and  owers
- the colors so vivid and the gauze so soft.
Forty rolls of scarlet  owered satin.
A pale purple woolen cape embroidered with  ower de-
sign.
Baoyu chose a sheet of pink paper with a gilded border
and  oral design on one of the top and bottom corneres.
Animal Dragon
The tripod with dragon designs.
A golden chaplet in the form of two dragons  ghting for
a pearl.
A gold chaplet in the form of two dragons  ghting for a
pearl.
A silver chaplet in the form of two dragons rising from
the sea.
A Han-Dynasty jade pendant carved with nine dragons.
Before the porch hung a placard gilded with the nine-
dragon design, and the inscription Stars Shine on the
Assistant, which had been written by the late Emperor
himself.
Continued on next page
107
Table 3.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Animal Dragon
The tablet over the entrance to the main hall was en-
graved with frolicking dragons, and bore the intagliated
motto in blue: Venerate the Departed, Continue Their
Sacri ces.
She looked at the dragon and serpent designs on the
sheath which was studded with bright pearls and jew-
els, then drew out the two swords, identical in size, one
engraved with the word duck, the other drake.
To their east stood a carved openwork dragon-screen with
below it a low couch spread with cushions, pillows and
furs.
They were now at the foot of a marble arch  nely carved
with rampant dragons and coiling serpents.
A white robe embroidered with zigzag wave patterns and
 ve-clawed dragons.
A red archer?s tunic embroidered with golden dragons
and lined with fox-fur.
A narrow-sleeved, none to new greenish yellow satin tunic
lined with white squirrel, with fur-lined cu s and collar,
which was embroidered with dragons in gold thread and
colored silks.
Red silk back-rests and bolsters embroidered with Drag-
ons in the Clouds designs and the character Longevity.
On the large red sandalwood table carved with dragons.
Continued on next page
108
Table 3.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Animal
Dragon
Put the tripod with dragon designs on the table.
Baoyu saw a newly written couplet on purple paper with
gilded cloud-dragon designs.
A carved lacquer tea-tray in the shape of crab-apple blos-
som, inlaid with a golden design of the cloud dragon of-
fering longevity.
Serpent
A yellowish green archer?s jacket embroidered with ser-
pents and lined with white fox-fur.
Of the one hundred and twenty satin curtains embroi-
dered with serpents and large and small black-dotted
brocade hangings inset with di erent designs and colors.
Forty rolls of satin with serpent designs.
A red silk sutra wrapper with serpent design.
Twelve rolls of  rst-grade Imperial brocade with the ser-
pent design.
The large Kang by the window was covered with a scar-
let foreign rug. In the middle were scarlet back-rests and
turquoise bolsters, both with dragon-design medallions,
and a long yellowish green mattress also with dragon
medallions.
Phoenix Two lengths of phoenix-tail silk.
Continued on next page
109
Table 3.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Animal
Duck
A white silk stomacher lined with red, which she was
embroidering with mandarin ducks at play among some
lotus. The lotus  owers were pink, the leaves green, and
the ducks a medley of colors.
Butter y
A sash embroidered with many-colored butter ies.
Her close- tting scarlet satin jacket was embroidered
with gold butter ies and  owers.
Scarlet archer?s jacket, embroidered with golden butter-
 ies and  owers.
Several rolls of pink cicada - wing gauze in one of the
chests. There are several di erent designs sprays of blos-
som,  oating clouds and bats, butter ies and  owers the
colors so vivid and the gauze so soft.
Slippers with butter y and  ower designs.
A long-tasseled colored butter y belt.
Bat
Several rolls of silver-red cicada - wing gauze in one of
the chests. There are several di erent designs - sprays of
blossom,  oating clouds and bats, butter ies and  owers
- the colors so vivid and the gauze so soft.
Continued on next page
110
Table 3.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Animal Bat
There were only partitions formed of shelves for books,
bronze tripods, stationery,  ower vases and miniature
gardens, some round, some square, some shaped like sun-
 owers, plantain leaves or intersecting arcs. They were
beautifully carved with the motifs clouds and a hundred
bats of the three companions of winter - pine, plum and
bamboo - as well as landscapes and  gures, birds and
 owers, scrollwork, imitation curios and symbols of good
fortune or long life.
Geometry
Eight bunches
A turquoise fringed coat of Japanese satin with a raised
pattern of  owers in eight bunches.
The fox-fur-lined coat of turquoise silk tapestry inset
with eight circular designs.
Chain A back-rest and bolster of brocade with chain designs.
Double ring A green and gold plaited belt with double rings.
Other Other
Welve scarlet tapestry scenes from the opera Every Son
a high Minister on one side and one the other gilded
depictions of the character Longevity in various styles of
calligraphy.
Amazement because all ten  tted into each other, the
largest being the size of a small basin and even the small-
est as big as the cup in her hand. Admiration at the  ne
landscapes, trees and  gures carved on them, as well as
the seals and inscriptions.
Continued on next page
111
Table 3.5 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Other Other
There were only partitions formed of shelves for books,
bronze tripods, stationery,  ower vases and miniature
gardens, some round, some square, some shaped like sun-
 owers, plantain leaves or intersecting arcs. They were
beautifully carved with the motifs clouds and a hundred
bats of the three companions of winter - pine, plum and
bamboo - as well as landscapes and  gures, birds and
 owers, scrollwork, imitation curios and symbols of good
fortune or long life.
Red boots lined with lambskin and inset with a gold-
thread cloud-design applique.
A crimson woolen hood with a gosling-yellow applique of
cloud designs and a golden lining.
The small tiger-head battle boots decorated with multi-
colored curling clouds.
An ermine-lined peach-red silk tapestry jacket insett with
a hundred-beads design.
Table 3.5 and Figure 3.7 illustrate that  oral and animal motifs are predominant in the
pattern design based on the high percentage.
The result of analysis of the pattern design in the novel is consistent with the research
conclusion of the four wares. Birds and  owers were the most popular decoration in the four
wares, and  oral motifs were used as both the background and the main subject (Figure
3.8).
112
Figure 3.7: Pattern analysis
Figure 3.8: Motifs on the wares
One feature of the pattern on the wares is that the ornaments were in uenced by religious
associations. For instance, the lotus petals are associated with Buddhism (Figure 3.9).
113
Figure 3.9: Religious motifs on the wares
Another feature of pattern is auspice culture. Some Chinese characters are associated
with ones with the same pronunciation but di erent tone, whose meanings were particularly
loved by Chinese people. The auspice culture is expressed through these graphic ornaments.
For instance, prunus was a popular motif on Chinese decorative arts since its name, mei hua,
suggests beauty (mei) (Figure 3.10).
Figure 3.10: Auspice cultural motifs on the wares
Additionally, the main  eld of ornaments on the wares is enclosed by a border. The
most popular border was a squared spiral used in a narrow band placed well below the lip
of the bowl or plate (Figure 3.11).
Figure 3.11: Border decoration on the wares
114
In conclusion, the  oral and animal motifs, which are popular in the Chinese traditional
decorative arts, can be applied on the tableware. Sometimes, the motifs are associated with
religion and auspice culture and enclosed by some speci c geometrical shapes.
3.6 Balance
Balance, the essential component of any work of art, is the equal distribution of vi-
sual weight in a piece of art. Visual weight is the relative visual impact or importance of
art elements and their characteristics in a composition. There are three types of balance:
symmetric, asymmetric and radial balance.
Symmetrical balance is the perfect balance. In a symmetrical composition, elements
on each side of the central axis are perfectly equal. Radial balance employs radiating or
emanating forms from a given point or area [38].
Table 3.6 lists the descriptions related to balance in Dream of Red Chamber.
Table 3.6: Balance Description
Category Sub-category Description
Balance Symmetrical
A golden chaplet in the form of two dragons  ghting for
a pearl.
A silver chaplet in the form of two dragons rising from
the sea.
The rose-red jade pendants in the form of double- at sh.
To its right, suspended on a lacquer frame, was a white
jade musical stone in the form of double- at sh, with a
small hammer next to it.
A green and gold plaited belt with double rings.
Continued on next page
115
Table 3.6 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Balance
Symmetrical
A pair of vases.
Ru ware vase the size of a peck measure was  lled with
chrysanthemums white as crystal balls.
That evening when Daiyu went into the inner room to get
ready for bed, the sight of the jar of licheers reminded her
of the old woman?s maundering.
Radial
An old bronze tripod, viridity with patina, stood about
three feet high.
The tripod with dragon designs on the table.
The dark steatite tripod.
The ancient bronze tripods and libation cups green with
patina.
The tripod with dragon designs.
On both sides below the steps, tall vermilion candles
blazed like golden dragons.
A Han-Dynasty jade pendant carved with nine dragons.
Her hair-clasps, in the form of  ve phoenixes facing the
sun, had pendants of pearls.
A large gilded cloisonn brazier, its three legs in the form
of elephant trucks.
From the great beams on either side hung crystal,
hibiscus-shaped chandeliers with colored tassels.
116
Figure 3.12: Balance analysis
Table 3.6 and Figure 3.12 illustrate that radial balance is predominant with 55.6% of
the description related to balance.
3.7 Repetition
Repetition is the recurrence of elements within a piece:Colors, patterns, etc. The pur-
pose of repetition is to unify and to add visual interest.
Table 3.7 lists the descriptions related to repetition in Dream of Red Chamber.
Table 3.7: Repetition description
Category Sub-category Description
Continued on next page
117
Table 3.7 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Repetition Pattern
Before the porch hung a placard gilded with the nine-
dragon design, and the inscription Stars Shine on the
Assistant, which had been written by the late Emperor
himself.
Her close- tting red satin jacket was embroidered with
gold butter ies and  owers.
Red silk back-rests and bolsters embroidered with Drag-
ons in the Clouds designs and the character Longevity.
Twelve red tapestry scenes from the opera Every Son
a high Minister on one side and one the other gilded
depictions of the character Longevity in various styles of
calligraphy.
A back-rest and bolster of brocade with chain designs.
A bamboo mat woven in a lotus pattern.
Red archer?s jacket, embroidered with golden butter ies
and  owers.
An ermine-lined peach-red silk tapestry jacket inset with
a hundred-beads design.
The fox-fur-lined coat of turquoise silk tapestry inset
with eight circular designs.
A turquoise fringed coat of Japanese satin with a raised
pattern of  owers in eight bunches.
A pale purple woolen cape embroidered with  ower de-
sign.
Continued on next page
118
Table 3.7 { continued from previous page
Category Sub-category Description
Repetition
Pattern
A pale-white embroidered fur-lined jacket.
The glimpsed dark green glowered satin trousers with a
 ower pattern.
The  owered green silk lined-trousers.
The bright pink trousers with a  oral design.
The glossy dark green silk trousers embroidered with
 owers.
The pomegranate-red trousers with  oral designs.
Below the kang facing the west wall were four armchairs,
their covers of bright red dotted with pink  owers.
A leek-green  owered portiere.
The red portieres embroidered in gold  owers.
The soft  owered portiere.
Color
The slippers with butter y and  ower designs.
The black-dotted stockings with brocade borders.
The black-dotted antimacassars.
The wrapper was of black-dotted silk gauze, line with
bright pink silk.
A short lined satin jacket - a patchwork of dark purple,
blue and jade-colored squares.
A narrow-sleeved, none to new yellowish green satin tunic
lined with white squirrel, with fur-lined cu s and collar,
which was embroidered with dragons in gold thread and
colored silks.
119
Pattern
76%
Color
24%
Color
24%
Figure 3.13: Repetition analysis
Table 3.7 and Figure 3.13 illustrate that the pattern repetitions are predominant based
on the high percentage.
3.8 The Required Performance Criteria of Tableware Design
From analyzing, in detail, aesthetic areas for consideration, such as shape, proportion
and texture, Table 3.8 lists the required performance criteria of tableware design integrating
cultural aesthetic elements.
120
Table 3.8: The required performance criteria of
tableware design
Factors Parameters Speci cation Appropriation
Aesthetics
Shape Floral
Peony 3 (Good)
Plum 5 (Outstanding)
Chrysanthemum 3
Foliage 3
Lotus 4 (Excellent)
Sun ower 3
Clove 3
Crab-apple blossom 3
Caltrop 3
Cluster 3
Proportion Slender 3
Texture
Embossing
Carved 4
Inset 3
Impressing
Raised 3
Studded 4
Painting
Black-dotted 3
Gilded 4
Aesthetics Color Red
Red 4
Scarlet 5
Crimson 3
Rose-red 1 (poor)
Ruby 1
Continued on next page
121
Table 3.8 { continued from previous page
Factors Parameters Speci caion Appropriation
Aesthetics
Color Red
Pomergranat-red 1
Silver-red 1
Peach-red 2 (Fair)
Apricot-red 2
Bright pink 2
Pink 1
Cerise 1
Vermillion 1
Pattern
Floral
Lotus 3
Plum 1
Passion- ower 1
Flowers 5
Animal
Dragon 5
Serpent 3
Phoenix 1
Buttery 3
Bat 1
Balance Balance
Symmetrical 4
Radial 5
Repetition Pattern 5
The appropriation in the table 3.8 is based on the number of descriptions for each item
cited in Dream of the Red Chamber. For instance, there are 73 descriptions relevant to red
122
color. Table 3.9 lists the number of descriptions of di erent red colors and their corresponding
percentages. Based on the percentage of each item, the appropriation is calculated.
Table 3.9: The appropriation rate of red colors
Item Number of description Percentage Appropriation
Red 18 24.7% 4
Scarlet 21 28.8% 5
Crimson 10 13.7% 3
Ruby 1 1.4% 1
Pomegranate-red 2 2.7% 1
Siver-red 6 8.2% 1
Peach-red 6 8.2% 2
Apricot-red 1 1.4% 2
Bright pink 4 5.4% 2
Cerise 1 1.4% 1
Pink 2 2.7% 1
Vermilion 1 1.4% 1
123
Chapter 4
Design Guideline Application
4.1 Design guidelines
Based on the grading of the required performance criteria in section 3.9, the tableware
design guidelines, which integrated cultural aesthetic elements, are developed as follows:
From the aesthetic consideration:
 The shapes of tableware have a tendency of imitating  oral forms, such as lotus and
plum.
 The proportion of tableware is slender.
 The carved, studded or gilded texture is applied on the surface of the tableware.
 The scarlet color is the main color applied on the tableware.
 The  ower motifs are applied on the tableware.
 The form and the pattern should be the radial balance.
 The pattern is applied on the tableware repetitively.
From the technical consideration:
 The glaze applied on the tableware should be food safe.
 Porcelain is highly recommended for its beautiful surface quality and the very  ne
and strong body.
From the production consideration:
124
 Slip casting, a relatively simple technique, should be utilized because of the level of
accuracy and the ability to repeatedly cast the object over and over again.
4.2 Design Process
The following procedures and methods were used to conduct the study (Figure 4.1):
In the research step, the design product is identi ed  rst. The applicable product should
have a strong relationship with culture and social environment. Then choose a novel that is
rich in ideas and concepts of a multi-faceted world in a speci c cultural society. The novel
should also provide a lot of authentic details concerning the daily life at that time. When
reading the selected novel, explore many di erent areas that will bring more inspiration to
designers. After reading the whole book, the inspired descriptions are categorized into a
number of groups. The source material in various categories is developed further in the
aesthetic perspective, such as shape, proportion and color.
Further, the required performance criteria are summarized based on statistical data,
which result from calculating the predominant feature in each group.
Based on the required performance criteria, the design guidelines are developed to sum-
marize the consideration of each aesthetic feature. Next, the design guidelines are developed
and applied to the product development.
In the concept development phase, utilize the design guidelines to create the concept
draft of the product. All of the concepts are evaluated by the required performance criteria.
The better solution is selected for further re nement. After re ning, the best possible solution
is prototyped to validate the e ciency of the design guideline.
At last, the conclusion is summarized and recommendation for the further study is
proposed.
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Figure 4.1: Design process
4.3 Concept ideation
The concept sketches are developed based on the design guidelines of aesthetic elements
research from Dream of the Red Chamber.
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First, the form of tableware gives  oral appearance with radial balance. The initial
sketches of form development are drawn below.
For instance, the multiple-petal  ower form is de ned by the discontinuous radial curve.
The slightly lobed rim gives the dish the appearance of foliate form, with a simple V-shaped
cut in the lip. Form concept development is illustrated in Figure 4.2.
Second, the  ower motifs on the tableware are developed. Many designs were of course
purely decorative or part of a certain fashion in design. However, meaningful or symbolic
motifs were an important part of ceramic culture in China, which re ected certain important
values and beliefs in Chinese society.
Flower motifs are popular on the decorative arts of China and each type of  ower has
its unique meanings. The lotus  ower is associated with summer, Buddhism and purity. The
word for lotus in Chinese (lian) also means ?in succession?, so the wish is for the owner of
the dish to have a series of sons. Prunus suggests beauty and is regarded as a harbinger of
spring. Peony is known as the  ower of riches and honor and is used symbolically in Chinese
art. Pattern concept development is illustrated in Figure 4.3 and 4.4.
Based on the design guidelines, two form concepts and pattern designs are selected
and the graphic pattern is applied on the plates radial balanced and repetitively.Concept
development for plates is illustrated in Figure 4.5.
The  rst combination is selected for further re nement. The pattern is simpli ed and
the number of repetition is increased to reach a better visual balance. After re ning, the
 nal solution for the plate design (Figure 4.6) is selected for prototype making.
4.4 Idea Development
4.4.1 Foam Mock-up
The three-dimensional visualization is vital to develop the design. The mock-up, a
three-dimensional \sketch", is built to realize how an idea will work. This does not have to
be highly  nished, or detailed, but it brings an idea to life.
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Figure 4.2: Form concept development
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Figure 4.3: Floral pattern concept development
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Figure 4.4: Animal attern concept development
The computer model of the cup is  rst built in understanding the idea in three dimen-
sions (Figure 4.7).
After examining these two computer models, model 1 is chosen for its elegant shape and
its style is consistent with plates.
In the next phase, the foam mock-up is further developed since it is easy to manipulate
and handle. The mock-up demonstrates the real dimension and proportion of the  nal model
(Figure 4.8).
Foam models with di erent heights and diameters are made, and the size of the model
on the left is easy for hand holding and matches the proportion of the plates.
4.4.2 Mold making
In ceramics, a model is most likely to be made of the traditional material - plaster.
Plaster is an ideal material to pick up detail, so it is used to make a mold. The plaster is
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Figure 4.5: Concept development for plates
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Figure 4.6: Final solution for plate design
Figure 4.7: Computer model for the cup
Figure 4.8: Foam mock-up for the cups
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poured over a model as a liquid and then it becomes solid. When the plaster dries, the mold
is highly porous, particularly great for slip casting.
It is important to understand the form of the design and how it can be molded. If the
form is hard to mold, the overall success of the design is diminished.
The plate mold (Figure 4.9) has two pieces. This two-piece split mold is simply for the
design that has an undercut. Because the foot of the plate is recessed, the mold splits along
its length through the rim edge.
Figure 4.9: Plaster mold for the plate
The cup mold (Figure 4.10) has three pieces. Because of the twisted shape of the cup,
it needs to be split along the diagonal edge, so the cast piece can be released. Because of
the recessed foot, it would need to incorporate a bottom to the mold. The mold then splits
into three pieces.
The relief pattern on the surface of the model, also called embossing, can be molded
and cast. After the mold is built, the relief pattern is carved on the plaster mold so that the
embossed surface is integral to the form of the objects.
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Figure 4.10: Plaster mold for the cup
Figure 4.11: Carved pattern on the plaster mold
4.4.3 Slip casting
Slip is liquid clay and slip casting is an ideal process in ceramic design for the level of
accuracy and the ability to repeatedly produce the object.
The following are the steps for slip casting of plates:
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Slip is mixed in a large bucket and kept ready for use. To make sure the mold is dried,
the mold would be heated in the oven for 3-4 hours. Before using the mold, it should be dry
to touch and clean of all dust and debris. Firmly strap all the pieces of mold together so
that the slip can be safely poured into the mold in one continuous motion. To avoid creating
a ripple on the casting surface, continue pouring the slip until the mold is full (Figure 4.12).
Figure 4.12: Pour the slip until the mold is full
It will take a given period of time to allow the slip to cast. Porcelain usually takes
about 15 minutes. The plaster mold will draw the water from the slip. For the cup mold,
a thin wall of porcelain will be left on the mold surface after the water is drawn from the
slip. When cast thickness is correctly achieved (approximately 1/4 in.), the excess slip will
be poured out from the mold (Figure 4.13).
The porcelain will start to shrink in the mold with the clay drying. Before the porcelain
is safe to handle, it is kept in the mold. When the porcelain is dry enough to handle, the
mold can be taken apart (Figure 4.14).
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Figure 4.13: Pour excess slip out from the mold
Figure 4.14: Take the mold apart
After the porcelain is taken out from the mold, leave the cast to dry for a few hours
until it is hard enough to touch without leaving an imprint. Then the surplus clay can be
trimmed along the seams by a sharp blade (Figure 4.15).
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Figure 4.15: Trim surplus porcelain along the seam
The delicate decoration on the plates can be cleaned by an art brush. The ripples on
the cast surface are smoothed by a brush or a sponge.
Casting results in a very  ne-quality porcelain, with consistent thickness throughout,
 ne rims, and delicate decoration (Figure 4.16).
Figure 4.16: Casting mold
4.4.4 Glazing
Before glazing, test pieces are used to make important decisions and discovery the  nal
 nish of the design. Glaze testing can be used to understand the oxidized e ect on tiles or
slabs. (Figure: 4.17)
Through glaze testing, cranberry demonstrates the best  nishing e ect and color.
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Figure 4.17: Glaze testing on slabs or tiles
To further glaze testing, more test pieces are created. Fire more wares, and then a good
body of test pieces shows the glaze qualities. The seams are used to understand how the
glaze reacts at sharp points, and the three-dimensional form will explain the  uidity and
movement of the glaze on a vessel (Figure 4.18).
Figure 4.18: Glaze testing on wares
4.5 Design Execution
A set of tableware samples, including a desert plate, a salad plate, a dinner plate and a
cup, demonstrates the application of the design guidelines.
The shape of the tableware imitates  oral forms with petal curves on the edge (Figure
4.19).
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Figure 4.19: Desert plate
The  ower relief motifs are applied on the surface of the tableware. An attractive result
is produced especially when glazed as the glaze highlights and pools in the three-dimensional
pattern of the embossing (Figure 4.20).
Figure 4.20: The  ower relief motif on desert plate
The form is of radial balance. The pattern is applied on the tableware in radial repetitive
intervals (Figure 4.21).
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Figure 4.21: The  ower relief motif on dinner plate
The cup is very stable, slender, with a foot diameter that is smaller than the rim (Figure
??).
Figure 4.22: The cup
The plate is deceptively shallow, about 1 inch in height. Plates come in standard
diameters, a dinner plate being 12 inches. The rim will be about 7/8 of an inch in total.
The manufacturing process will often render the plate thin on the edge to make it look  ne,
while making this section thicker toward the center to add strength. The internal well of
a plate should be deep enough to hold food and sauces without them encroaching onto the
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rim. The external height of a plate should allow  ngers access underneath in order to lift it
safely, approximately 7/8 of an inch (Figure 4.23.
The cranberry red glaze is applied on the tableware, which is food safe.
Porcelain is used to create the tableware and the slip casting method is utilized to build
the porcelain prototype.
Figure 4.23: The tableware design
4.6 Summary
This set of tableware successfully followed the design guidelines in this thesis. The
tableware with a strong relationship with Chinese culture is created by applying the aesthetic
features in Dream of the Red Chamber. The designed tableware shows exploration of the
design guideline.
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Chapter 5
Conclusion
The objective of this thesis is to propose a design guideline to apply the aesthetic
elements in Dream of the Red Chamber into the current daily-use tableware design. The
results of the study of ceramics history in Ming and Qing dynasties shows that the aesthetics
of Ding, Ru, Guran and Enameled ware are consistent with the aesthetics analysis obtained
from the novel. The aesthetic elements, such as shape, proportion, texture, color, pattern,
balance, repetition and materials, are studied and analyzed to create a set of tableware with
styles of Redology. The sample work is designed to demonstrate the application of the design
guidelines. Designers can apply part of the design guidelines to the product design. It is
not necessary to consider all of the guidelines. For example, the slender proportion is not
considered for the plate design.
These design guidelines help the designer to create a set of tableware with styles of
Dream of the Red Chamber. The designed product will bear the unique cultural in uence
of Chinese classic literature. More aspects can be further investigated in the next phase.
Recommendations for further research are as follows:
1. Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the Four Great Classical Novels. Designers can
use the same methodology proposed in this thesis to analyze the other novels and develop
the corresponding design guideline.
2. When analyzing the novel, except the description related to the classi ed subjects, a
designer can also consider the theme, the period background, the fascination of the character
study, and the social environment where the story happened, from which designers draw
inspiration.
142
3. The methodology proposed in this thesis is only applicable to develop a design guide-
line inspired by the Chinese classical novel rather than any classical literature. Designers
can further investigate the methodology related to another form of literature, such as Tang
poetry.
4. The design guideline may be applied to other products, such as furniture, electronics,
etc.
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