No blank period

The first half of Shanghai Museum’s heavyweight exhibition "Scintillation Reproduction: Jingdezhen Porcelain Exhibition in the Mid-15th Century" has entered the end of the exhibition. On May 28, the largest "blank period" exhibition of Ming Dynasty at home and abroad is about to appear.
The exhibition was jointly organized by Shanghai Museum and Jingdezhen Institute of Ceramic Archaeology. It collected more than 280 pieces of utensils collected and unearthed by 28 institutions at home and abroad. It fully uncovered the mysterious veil that had long been shrouded in the "blank period" of porcelain and reproduced the brilliant chapter of the development of the porcelain industry in this period.
The mid-fifteenth century was just between the peaks of Xuande and Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty. As we all know, Yongle and Xuande were called the golden age of blue and white firing in history. After the middle of the fifteenth century, the Chenghua Dynasty was renowned for its unprecedented works of fighting colors. From the perspective of artistic style, the artistic style of porcelains in Xuande period was vigorous and vigorous, while in Chenghua period it was exquisite and beautiful.
Unfortunately, in the past few hundred years, the production situation of Jingdezhen official kiln porcelain industry in the mid-fifteenth century, namely, Ming Orthodox, Jingtai and Tianshun Dynasties, remained obscure. Since the middle of the last century, Chinese and foreign ceramic researchers have gradually named orthodox (1436-1449), Jingtai (1450-1456) and Tianshun (1457-1464) as "blank period", "dark age" or "Ming Gap".
During the years of orthodoxy, Jingtai and Tianshun, the political situation was extremely turbulent. In 1436, Emperor Xuande died. His eldest son, Zhu Qizhen, who was only nine years old, succeeded him. His name was orthodox. In 1449, the orthodox emperor disregarded the opposition of his courtiers and was encouraged by Wang Zheng, a favorite eunuch who controlled the dynasty. As a result, the Ming army was defeated. The orthodox emperor also became a prisoner of the tiles, known as the "Civil Castle Change" in history. Yu Qian et al. established the orthodox emperor’s half brother, King Zhu Qiyu, as the emperor and the year Jingtai. In the following year, Wa Lu and Ming Yi made peace, and the orthodox emperor returned to Beijing and became the nominal emperor of the Tai Emperor. In fact, he was banned in the Nangong Palace. During the reign of Emperor Jingtai, he wanted to depose the son of the orthodox emperor and set up his own son as prince, which was always at odds with his courtiers. In 1457, Shi Heng and others helped the orthodox emperor re-ascend to the throne of God when King Tai was unable to control the dynasty due to illness, and changed to Yuan Tianshun. This coup was called "the change of seizing the door" or "the restoration of the Southern Palace". Before long, King Jingtai died of illness. During Tianshun’s reign, the political situation also changed frequently: first, senior officials in Jingtai period were cleansed and Yu Qian was structured and executed; then, Emperor Tianshun eradicated the transformed political group and began to reuse the cabinet headed by Li Xian. In short, the Ming Dynasty experienced a series of crises, such as eunuchs’interference in politics, border wars, imperial power struggles and court coups.
Political instability and perennial wars, together with the depressed livelihood caused by natural disasters and peasant uprisings, undoubtedly have an impact on the porcelain industry. In the eight years of Xuande, the imperial court once ordered Jingdezhen to burn 443,500 pieces of Longfeng porcelain. In the orthodox years, the imperial wares factory was stopped burning; in Jingtai, one third of the porcelains made in Raozhou were recorded; and in Tianshun, the number of 133,000 pieces originally planned to be fired was even reduced by 80,000 due to the hardship of the people’s livelihood. Not only the official kilns, but also the civil kilns were strictly prohibited from firing some kinds of porcelain. It is not difficult to see that the political turmoil and economic recession in the mid-15th century had a great impact on Jingdezhen’s porcelain firing.
Not only is the documentary record not optimistic, but the physical evidence is even more so. For a long time, the production of Jingdezhen porcelain in the 29 years of the three dynasties was not very clear, nor was it clear which handed down objects belonged to the production of this period. The main reason for this situation is that the official porcelain products are not published in the anniversary, which makes the Ming and Qing literati doctors and collectors completely ignorant of the products of the three dynasties, and almost no one has commented on and appreciated them. Ceramic historians of later generations are also confused, unable to distinguish which products of the three dynasties are from the handed down products. And the important kiln products also lack the basis of dating. After all, the utensils unearthed in the tomb were not necessarily burned at that time. It is also possible that the utensils were burned long before the death of the owner of the tomb and then circulated and used with the burial. This really made the characteristics of the ceramic works in the middle of the fifteenth century a fog.
Over the past 30 years, with the progress of field archaeology and in-depth study of the academic community, especially the major archaeological discoveries made in the scope of Jingdezhen Imperial Ware Factory in 2014, our understanding of the "blank period" porcelain is no longer at a loss. The fact is that the production of porcelain industry in the "blank period" is not "blank" at all. The official kilns and folk kilns in this period are still vigorously developing and continuously firing. It inherits Xuande and Chenghua, which not only plays an important historical role in carrying forward the past and opening up the future, but also has a splendid appearance.
It is hoped that through this artistic, academic and exploratory exhibition, we can have a general understanding and objective evaluation of the development of Jingdezhen ceramics industry and its products with the characteristics of the times in the three dynasties of orthodoxy, Jingtai and Tianshun, so as to restore this period of history more systematically. Shanghai Museum