| Abstrakt: |
At the turn of the eighteenth century, a polychrome revolution swept over Qing court arts and saw the number of enamel colors to be applied over a porcelain surface increasing from fewer than ten to a virtually unlimited amount. This paper examines the development of four enamel colors that were key to this "chromatic turn": pink, blue, yellow, and white. Drawing from the most recent scientific analyses and newly uncovered archival documents, it aims to provide a more nuanced and complex narrative of the development of these new colors. Combining material analysis and archival evidence ultimately challenges the established narrative that the so-called famille rose palette was largely introduced to China by European missionaries, pointing instead at how colorants were also developed and disseminated locally through provincial tribute and collaboration between palace workshops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
