Cocktails with a Curator: Chinese Porcelain Ladies
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2021
- In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Curator Aimee Ng looks closely at a pair of Chinese porcelain ladies made by an unidentified artist during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722). Currently on view in Frick Madison’s celebrated “Porcelain Room,” these colorful figures are among the most beloved decorative arts objects in the Frick’s collection and exemplify period ideals of female beauty, with manicured hands, lithe bodies, and lavish garments embellished with chrysanthemums. In recognition of this floral motif, this week’s complementary cocktail is the Chrysanthemum, a concoction of dry vermouth, Bénédictine, and absinthe.
To view these porcelain figures in detail, please visit our website: www.frick.org/kangxiladies
FEATURED COCKTAIL: Chrysanthemum (dry vermouth, Bénédictine, and absinthe); the mocktail is chrysanthemum iced tea. For the complete recipes, visit www.frick.org/cocktails-curator
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Congratulations for another excellent presentation of the "Cocktails with a Curator".
Knowing your specialization in European renaissance art, I am pleasantly surprised that you very effectively and elegantly highlighted the essence of Chinese porcelain art, using the figures of the "Two Ladies on Stands".
You must have done a lot of research for your talk, which includes the technique of Asian porcelain making and the historical value of Chinese porcelain to European collectors.
I look forward to visiting the Frick Collections again to view the fabulous porcelain collections there.
Thank you Aimee, you gave us a wonderful overview of those gorgeous ladies. If only they had come down with more information, right? They must have a wonderful story. Beautifully done, as always. I found it very interesting to lay them side by side (time-wise) with the paintings from Europe. I do remember you teaching us about the enormous interest in Chinese art in France and I love how it all ties with our 'class' on porcelain from Xavier. How lucky you are to work around all of that beauty all day!
Bravo! I would not have focused on porcelain on my own and am very happy to be guided by curator choices such as these. No one else comes close to the Frick with the quality of these talks!
Thank you, Dr. Ng for wrapping around exploration, commerce and sociology into Friday's discussion. The celebration of #Renaissance500 has us looking back to Florence....your discussion has us looking a bit further back...indeed! #EastVenturesWest
When Aimee talked about the ladies’ manicures, I started craving an Aimee Ng street fashion blog or podcast!! Let’s make this happen
this is particularly exciting for me, I am a specialist in Chinese Imperial ceramics from Jingdenzhen. How wonderful!
very nice,the pattern on the yellow part of the skirt/robe is vaguely reminiscent of some of the central bird motives in Meissen’s red dragon decor
Lovely discovery! And I look forward to trying this cocktail
Thank you very much, Amy, for a most interesting introduction to the two ladies.
Could be the Peony's flower painting instead of the Chrysanthemum image on two ladies' clothing! Peony flower always much highly regarded by the Chinese Higher Class. It represented ~ Good fortune, Richness, Honorary and Elegant in Chinese Society, even today! Thank you for the information based upon the limited records or research paper. Nevertheless, it was an interesting presentation though! 🤓🤔 Thanks! 😊
My first thought was also that they represent peonies but I guess these pieces have been much-studied since their acquisition so I daresay that the relevant experts have concluded that they are chrysanthemums... A fascinating presentation indeed (o:
Thank you Aimee. Greetings from Italy
Thank you Aimee.
OH ! my - the "ladies" took me right back to my childhood in London and my mother's collection of Famé Rose y Vert figures - sadly sold over the years to support her somewhat extravagant lifestyle - I seem to remember a set of "Immortals" as well - thank you so much for these - I would take them over the Bellini any day!!! Sacrilege I am sure!!!
Alix
I’m a novice in collecting Chinese art and porcelain, I’m a year in and i’m so obsessively addictive to the beauty & history behind it. I have acquired a small collection of Ming to republic pieces if porcelain & jade 🔥❤️🔥so addictive!!!
Definitely will take Amie up on offer to really visit with the lovely Chinese ladies!
Thank you Aimee Ng! You make me so happy every Friday it’s like “wow” Aimee Ng did it again! Thanks keep it on you are great
Interesting discussion of how the perceived value of cultural objects can change through time. Much the way that for many centuries tapestries were considered far more valuable than paintings, Chinese porcelains were so highly valued that they were sometimes given ormolu mounts to enhance their preciousness It is interesting also to reflect on the echo of the perceived value and desirability of different immigrant groups depending on the political climate.
Anxiously waiting from Toronto, Canada!
Nice flower ball design on collar. Great job Dr. Ng.
On viewing this episode of Cocktails, I went to my cabinet of porcelains and glass objects and retrieved two tiny Chinese figures in what I take to be Famille Rose, as a husband and wife seated on rose divans wearing green and rose coloured garments. The slightly tinted ivory faces are exquisitely rendered under heads of glossy black hair, piled high in the case of the woman and complemented by a Fu Manchu beard on the husband. They have been in our family for 70 years and in the family my parents bought them from another 30 years. Nice to contrast these modest porcelains with the Frick masterpieces.
I believe the large flowers on the clothes are peonies. There are some stylized chrysanthemums on the front edges of the garments.
Wonderful presentation, thank you Aimee. Would their feet have been bound?
Cheers from Cleveland Ohio
Bounded feet, light skin and long nails were exterior manifestations of a high, non labouring social strata.
Thank you Aimee, for another wonderful presentation about two gorgeous Chinese ladies, who in the old Frick always distract me from the old glorious European masterpieces and remind me of the similar wonders which I was lucky to see at Xian, Shanghai and, of course, in the great Forbidden City. The timing of your presentation was especially significant, because it came just days after president Biden signs anti-Asian hate criminal Act, which suppose to cure some past misgivings, some of which going centuries back. As you, Aimee, right notice, that origin of those ladies were not clear, like a thousands of other Chinese artifacts all over the world, which could be potentially stolen during two 'Boxers (Opium!)' wars by western powers, included Russia. Could it be good ideas in the sign of reconciliation between great civilizations to return at least some of the artifacts (but not those two beauties!) back to it origin? Something similar done for decades recently with the Jewish art stolen by Nazi. Just an idea! And after this, it maybe will be easy to talk about the intellectual property and other divided topics...
I'd love to know more about the creation, culture, market for Chinese porcelain. Can anyone pass, along a link to a reference on the Chinese porcelain industry, explaining the factories, market and marketing, export, etc. It must have been a significant factor in a few places in Chinese society. I'm thinking of Limoges in France and woodblock prints in Japan.
Greetings,
Please see the following llnk. ua-cam.com/video/hlCV39YJzWU/v-deo.html
It should be peony, not chrysanthemum.
First I thought there was a heron within that round-shaped ornament on one of the ladies' dress, and heron as far as I know is considered an auspicious symbol of longevity and purity in China, being a companion of Shou Lao- Daoist god of longevity. But when I zoomed the picture, it appeared to me that their wings and tails are more typical for a phoenix- symbol of transformation, spring, female origin (dragon- male, phoenix-female). Also two of those phoenixes they are not similar visually: they have different forms of beaks, and recritices are not completely the same either, which might let one to suggest that they are actually a pair of birds: male (cock) and female (hen), respectively representing male and female origins and together could be perceived as a symbol of love and marriage.
Agreed, think they could be phoenixes.
Hey, Cocktilians! I'm a journalist, doing a story on this fine series as part of a look at what museums have been doing during the pandemic. I'd like to talk with some of you, remotely, audio only: you'd be recording yourself, we'd be on the phone. Please contact me at kmichelpv@gmail.com. Thanks! (and if you want to see if I'm "real" you can check out much of my work at www.npr.org).
They could have used a real Chinese specialist. There is quite a bit of disappointing guesswork or failure to do homework on the purpose and symbolism of the decoration. Why do we have to look at Chinese artwork through the lens lens of European history and its perceived value in the West. Do these works need that kind of validation?
Ms. Ng, we appreciate your passion and your professionalism. However, whenever you speak extemporaneously, please remember that Caroline Kennedy's political hopes were essentially dashed because she could barley utter a single sentence without saying "um."