Shufu (Luan bai) wares


Yingqing (qingbai) glaze was first introduced during the 5 Dynasties period and was very popular during the Song period and continued to be produced during the Yuan dynasty.  In yingqing glaze, the glaze ash proportion in the glaze is high.  Glaze ash is rich in calcium and magnesium oxide, both of which are fluxing agent which lower the melting temperature of glaze.   Hence, yingqing glaze has low viscosity and the glaze application is thin to prevent overflowing problem. There is minimum unmelted quartz particles in the glaze and hence looks transparent and shows its clear and light bluish tone well.

During the Yuan dynasty,  a new glaze with reduced glaze ash proportion of 10% as compared with about 30% in Yingqing glaze was introduced.   Because this type of glaze has a higher viscosity, the glaze application can be thicker.  The reduction in the fluxing agents also resulted in more un-melted quartz particles and some fine silicia in the glaze stone remain un-dissolved.  Hence, they cause scattering of light and the glaze looks opaque and matted with a softer white or white/light bluish colour tone.   The term luan bai (卵白) meaning goose egg white was used to describe such colour tone.   Most of the vessels, consisting of bowls and dishes, using this glaze formula were made in Hutian kilns on the outskirt of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Some of the bowls and dishes have molded relief motif and the two Chinese characters shu fu  (枢府) meaning "Privy council".    Hence, wares with such glaze type were also termed shufu wares.   Besides shufu, other characters included "tai xi" (太禧) (meaning great happiness and "fu lu" (福禄) meaning good fortune and emolument could be found.  However, majority have just either plain or  molded relief motif of flowers, dragon or phoenix.  Such vessels are typically more thickly potted and for the bowls/dishes, there is pooling of glaze at the inner and outer mouth rim.

 

 

Some examples of Shufu ware with impressed decoration

 

The starting date for production of shufu is still uncertain.  In the the Sinan wreck of about A.D 1325, there were some shufu wares. Some excavated examples in China with the word "tai xi" were probably made for the the official institution, Taixi Zongyin Yuan  [太禧宗禋院] which dealt with religious rites of the imperial court.  It was set up in A.D. 1328.   Hence, they should be made at least after A.D. 1328. 

 

Group of Shufu dishes with moulded decoration from a wreck in Indonesia water
Shufu bowls and dishes are more thickly potted, with thick square cut foot and in many pieces the pooling of glaze on the outer rim is distinct
Yuan Qingbai and shufu glaze display distinguishable colour and texture differences as can been seen in the above examples.  The Yuan Qingbai ewer has a more deep and transparent blue colour whereas the other two are shufu wares, both have more matted glaze.  Most shufu glaze vessels typically possesses a more grayish white colour tone with a tinge of blue. There are some exceptions such as the dish on the upper right.  Although uncharacteristically more bluish, it still can be differentiated from Qingbai by its more matted glaze.

 

A small number of shufu wares continued to be made in the Hongwu period.   The glaze was subsequently further improved and a pleasing sugary white glaze known as Tianbai [甜白] was produced during the Yongle period.  

 

Ming Hongwu period Shufu dish and bowl from a wreck found near Vietnam.  The outer unglaze base has typical black specks.  The foot is also different, more thin and the inner wall slants outward. 

 

Recently, there was a shipwreck discovered in the sea near Java in Indonesia with cargo consisting of many shufu wares.  I have selected some examples of dishes and bowls to show the varying glaze tone and look.  The colour could range from more sugary white, grayish white with tinge of blue to some examples which are more bluish in colour tone.  The glaze is typically more matted although some could appear slightly more transparent if fired at a higher temperature.

 

Examples from a wreck in Indonesia sea water.  The glaze displays some differences in term of colour and degree of transparency due to different firing temperature.

 

 

The below dish has a thinner and more transparent glaze than those on typical shufu wares.  The form is the typical shufu type and it still has the pooling of glaze at the rim.  I am of the view that this is a unsuccessfully made piece shufu dish.  The potters aspired to a glaze that is thick and matted as shown on the majority of typical shufu wares. This particular piece revealed a dirty tone body especially where the glaze is thin.  Nigel Wood in his book "Chinese Glazes" noted that the shufu porcelains "were made from the new albeite-rich body stone mixed with added kaolin... Despite the changes the shufu bodies are actually less pure than the earlier yingqing wares - due to the the higher titania contents of the shufu clays,  -- and it is possible that the semi-opaque shufu glazes were developed to disguise this fact".

 
The glaze of this Shufu dish is more transparent and reveals the impurity of the body

 

The early Yuan blue and white has a shufu type glaze.  Analysis of the glaze on later Yuan blue and white shows that the glaze ash has been increased again and the final proportion is somewhere between shufu and Yingqing.  It has a more transparent and clearer colour tone.  The ash portion cannot be the same as Yingqing glaze as it's low viscosity would cause greater flow of the glaze and would cause the blue cobalt to spread and blur the motif.

 

 

Comparison of glaze of Shufu, Qingbai and blue and white.  Yuan blue and white glaze has a much wider range of blue tone.
 

 

Shufu ware with decorations

 

Some shufu wares were decorated with overglaze red/green motif. They are likely inspired by such decoration found on Cizhou ware during the Jin/Yuan period.

 

 

Jin Cizhou bowl with overglaze red and green decoration

 

In 2014,  a very rare Yuan bowl was auctioned by Beijing Hanhai Auction House for US$11.2m.  It is a Shufu glaze bowl decorated with relief effect decoration created by trailing the outline of motifs with coloured-glaze and further in-laid with gold.  Such vessel is given the name " 五彩戗金瓷", loosely translated in English meaning Wucai (5  colours) gold inlaid porcelain.


Yuan Shufu bowl with overglaze wucai gold inlaid decoration auctioned by Beijing Hanhai Auction House


The ancient text Ge Gu Yao Lun, "格古要论", written and published in 21st year of Ming Hongwu reign (1388) by Cao Zhao (曹昭）, in the section on ancient Raozhou ware (饶州）, present day Jingdezhen, he commented "..... Pieces made in the Yuan dynasty, with small feet, impressed patterns, and bearing the mark Shu Fu, are of a very high order. New pieces, however, have large feet. Among them the plain pieces lack unctuousness and the blue and white and the multicoloured (五色花）specimens are vulgar in taste. " (Translation by Sir Percival David).  In the past,  most associate multicolored ware with the overglaze red/ green decoration which was first introduced by Song/Jin Cizhou potters.  

However, subsequent discovery of 2  Shufu wares in a Yuan hoard in Inner Mongolia Ulanhot city in 1992, suggested otherwise.  They have overglaze coloured glaze/gilded decoration similar to the auctioned bowl.  One piece, a stem cup is on loan and display in Shanghai Museum. Generally, this type is now generally accepted as the multicoloured (五色花) ware mentioned by Cao Zhao.


Stem cup found  from a hoard in Ulanhot  in 1992

In 1999 Shanghai Museum received news that  6 pieces, consisting of saucer, bowl, yuhuchun vase, censer and 2 stem cups,  had surfaced in Hongkong. Except for the saucer, censer and stem cup, the rest are damaged pieces. Through an agent Company, the museum paid 10 million Hongkong dollars for the group of artifacts.

 
 
 
 
Rare Shufu bowl and dish (in Shanghai Museum) with overglaze wucai gold-inlaid decoration  
 

Besides those mentioned above,  there are only very few other  known examples.  One is a  stem cup with floral decoration found by the Beijing Palace Museum Ceramic expert Feng Xian Min in 1995 in Beijing antique market.  Another is a damaged yuhuchun vase in private collection.

Stem cup found by the Beijing Palace Museum Ceramic expert Feng Xian Min in 1995 in Beijing antique market

Yuan Yuhuchun Vase from a private collection


This outline and geometric relief decorative style, is likely influenced and inspired by the art of Minakari.  Minakari or Enamelling is the art of painting, colouring and ornamenting the surface of metals by fusing over it brilliant colours that are decorated in an intricate design. Mina, meaning heaven in Persian, is a glasslike coating that can be fixed on different kinds of metals by heat.  The Iranian craftsmen of Sasanied era invented this art and Mongols spreaded it to India and other countries.
 

An example of Minakari work


In conjunction with the Beijing Hanhai auction for bowl, there is an interesting write-up which covered the history of the item, known pieces with similar decorative technique, suggested technical methods for execution of the decoration and likely source of influence for such decorative style.

Of particular interest is the discussion on the technic applied for the decoration.  In the past,  the gold inlaid decoration is termed Qiangjin ( 戗金).  This technique was originally  developed for decorating lacquerware. A design is incised with a pointed tool on the lacquer vessel and then the lines are filled in with gold. 

The writer of the auction writeup for the bowl had the opportunity to inspect it closely.  He noted there is no sign of incised mark in some area where the gold or coloured glaze has degraded and missing.    There is no sign the decoration was incised before application of gold or colored glaze. He further checked with some museum staff who had handled such specimen.  They confirmed his observation.   Hence, from the technical point of view, it may not be appropriate to use the term qiangjin ( 戗金).

In fact, there is another Chinese term for the decoration , Lifen Tiejin ( 沥粉帖金) i.e. gelled patterning and gilding.  This is a technic used on figural mural painting where some details such as the head dress or ornamentations were further outlined with thin stripes of plaster through a tube-like device.  The relief outlines were then gilded or coloured with pigments.  On the Shufu vessel, it is also likely that  the colored glaze outlines of the decoration were applied through a tube-like device.

Mural painting with head dress and ornamentation of the human figures enhanced using the gelled patterning and gilding method


So far it seems no scientific analysis has been conducted to determine the chemical composition of the coloured glazes. We still do not know how the potters were able to prevent running of the thick overglaze during firing.  

In the Sinan wreck discovered near present-day Jeollanam-do Province in South Korea in 1975, there were some Shufu wares decorated with iron-brown painted decoration.  They are also rare and very few are known in existing museum collections.

 

 

Two examples of Shufu glaze dishes from the Sinan wreck with iron-brown painted decoration 

 

 

Written by : NK Koh (28 Feb 2008), updated: 27 Dec 2018, updated: 18 Feb 2021