Connecticut Ceramics Study Circle Seminar: “The Magic of Fire: The Chinese Potters Palette” @ The Bruce Museum

Image: Guan Jar with Dragon Décor, Chinese; Ming dynasty, Blue-and-white ware: porcelain with decoration in underglaze, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
“The Magic of Fire:  The Chinese Potters Palette”
Three-part seminar by Robert D. Mowry, Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The three illustrated lectures will explore the origins of the color palette developed by Chinese potters over many centuries, as well as the many beautiful manifestations in objects of beauty and usefulness.
1. From Black and Brown to Celadon:  Iron Oxide and its Magic
By mass, iron occurs naturally in soil and clay and was easily discovered as a ceramic coloring agent. Chinese potters quickly learned to create celadon, or pale bluish-green, glazes.
2. From Royal to Navy:  Cobalt in Its Glory
Cobalt entered the repertory of ceramic coloring agents in the Tang dynasty (618–907), but widespread use occurred during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), when potters at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, began to use it to embellish porcelain vessels, creating blue-and-white ware.
3. Seeing Red:  Copper Glazes from Peach Bloom to Sang de Boeuf
Although used in making bronze during the earlier Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BC–c. 1050 BC), copper was not used as a ceramic coloring agent until the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). In the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), potters revived interest in underglaze painting in copper red, achieved success with pieces whose painted designs boast perfect color, fine lines, and hard edges.
Robert D. Mowry is the Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and, until his retirement, also a senior lecturer on Chinese and Korean art in Harvard’s Department of Art History and Architecture. Mowry’s passion for Asian art and culture was sparked by his two-year service in the Peace Corps in Korea, teaching English at Seoul National University. He then returned to the University of Kansas, where he completed his graduate work, taking his degrees with honors. Fluent in Mandarin, he spent two years as a curatorial assistant and translator in the Department of Painting and Calligraphy at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. His career is distinguished with many pioneering leadership roles and ground-breaking scholarship. He was founding Curator of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at The Asia Society, New York, and, before that, Assistant Curator of Oriental Art at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum.
Admission: Members $95; Students with valid ID and members of Ceramics Organizations $110; Non-Members $135.  A gourmet Box Lunch of is provided.  Space is limited.
For reservations and information: marylin.chou@gmail.com or (203) 863-9655; www.ctcsc.org.