The Emperor's Nature: A Study of Naturalism in Qing Dynasty Imperial Ceramics from the Nanjing Museum Collection

Lisha Mi; Saw Eu Gene

doi:10.54097/2z47w311

Authors

Lisha Mi
Saw Eu Gene

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/2z47w311

Keywords:

Qing imperial porcelains; naturalism; imperial nature; Nanjing Museum.

Abstract

As a quintessential representation of court art under the feudal imperial system, Qing Dynasty imperial kiln porcelains embody both the imprint of imperial will and the cultural ethos of their age. Their decorative systems serve as a vital medium for interpreting Qing political ideology and aesthetic orientation. The extensive use of naturalistic elements was not a mere artistic choice, but rather a manifestation deeply rooted in the emperors’ complex needs for power construction, cosmological understanding, and cultural expression. Taking the Qing imperial porcelains housed in the Nanjing Museum as primary research objects, this paper focuses on the depictions of plant motifs, animal imagery, and natural landscapes, systematically analyzing the modes of naturalistic expression. In doing so, it reveals the imperial nature embedded within these decorations—encompassing not only the logic of sovereign supremacy and the emulation of natural order, but also the projection of personal tastes and the psychological pursuit of auspicious blessings. Furthermore, by examining the interplay of sociopolitical conditions, levels of economic development, intellectual trends, and individual imperial factors, this study clarifies the formative mechanisms of this stylistic phenomenon, thereby offering a new academic perspective on the interactive relationship between Qing court art and imperial ideology.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Chu, P. D., & Ding, N. (2020). Qing Encounters: Artistic Exchanges between China and the West. Cham: Springer.

[2] Edwards, H. G. M. (2020). 18th and 19th Century Porcelain Analysis. Cham: Springer.

[3] Fan, X. (2022). Interaction, appropriation, and adaptation: Transculturality of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Chinese and European porcelain (Doctoral dissertation). Heidelberg University.

[4] Guo, M. (2024). Christian iconography on Ming and Qing Chinese porcelain: Religious influence and artistic hybridization. Religions, 15(4), 472.

[5] Lin, Z. (2024). Ceramic Crossroads: Orientalism, Originality, and Replication in 19th-Century Europe and Beyond (Doctoral dissertation). Syracuse University.

https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1889&context=thesis

[6] Ma, K. (2024). A Cup of Imperial Taste: Symbolism and Style in Qing Court Porcelain. William & Mary Institutional Repository.

[7] Maezaki, S. (2021). Qing-style porcelain in Meiji Japan: The ceramic art of Seifu Yohei III (Doctoral dissertation). University of Kansas.

[8] Pidzamecky, A. (2023). Porcelain: Hidden Sinocentrism in Early Modern China (Master’s thesis). McMaster University.

[9] Yan, M. Q. (2024). In pursuit of temporal illusion: The reproduction and imitation of antiquities under the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723–35). Ming Qing Yanjiu, 28(1), 53–81.

[10] Yu, Q., Bakhir, N. M., & Jaafar, J. M. (2024). Semantic research on decorative patterns of enamel painted porcelain in the Qing Dynasty (1716–1789). Futurity Proceedings, 2(1), 45–58.