1 / Converging Cultures
| Artist / Origin |
Unknown artist, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China
Region: East Asia
|
|---|---|
| Date |
Yuan Dynasty, mid-14th century
Period: 1000 CE - 1400 CE
|
| Material |
Porcelain with underglaze blue
Medium: Ceramics
|
| Dimensions | Diam.: 18 in. (45.7 cm.) |
| Location | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York |
| Credit | Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art/Photo by Max Yawney |
expert perspective
| Alan ChongCurator of the Collection, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | ||
| Ladan AkbarniaAssociate Curator of Islamic Art, Brooklyn Museum | ||
| Ladan AkbarniaAssociate Curator of Islamic Art, Brooklyn Museum |
expert perspective
Ladan Akbarnia
Associate Curator of Islamic Art, Brooklyn Museum
“backSome of the types of materials that were exported during the Mongol period (known as the Yuan Dynasty) from China to western Asia, or to the Islamic world, included silk, mint coins, paper also traveled from east to west. And then from west to east or from the Islamic world and including Africa, as well, North Africa, the kinds of things that went to China or were imported by China included rhinoceros horn, coral, cotton, hide, raw medicine, and numerous other types of goods that wouldn’t be found in China and could only be found outside. So each culture would trade what it had plenty of and get in return what it really couldn’t find in its own context.
It’s believed that the cobalt blue that was used to decorate the blue and white wares in the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth century, it’s believed that the cobalt came from the Iranian world, but the porcelain was produced in China.”