Translating Borges: Transculturation and Appropriation

by Antonius Rhys

The short story, “The Gospel According to Mark,” by Jorge Luis Borges, first piqued my interest in analyzing how English and Spanish affect the way a story is received by the reader. I concluded that this story read quite differently in each language because of the cultural associations embedded in Spanish and because a portion of Borges’s style was lost in the English translation. The story takes place in Argentina, which shares a Hispanic heritage with Mexico, where I spent my early years. My personal experience significantly influenced the reading in its original language. The process inspired a second assessment of the same topic, for which I probed one of his more popular works: “The Garden of Forking Paths.”

A Study of the Two Types of Yuteki Tenmoku in Japan

by Hitoshi Kobayashi The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Curatorial Department, Chief Curator

Japan is a world treasure trove of Tenmoku (black-glazed tea bowls) produced in China. These pieces have been handed down through many generations. Representative examples include three Yohen Tenmoku (iridescent Tenmoku) tea bowls—in the collection of the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, the Fujita Museum, and Ryōkō-in at the Daitoku-ji Temple—as well as the Yuteki Tenmoku (oil-spot Tenmoku) in the collection of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka and the Taihi Tenmoku (tortoiseshell Tenmoku) in the collection of Shōkokuji Temple. All these pieces are designated as national treasures.

New Discoveries Regarding the Important Cultural Property ‘Konoha Tenmoku’

by Hitoshi Kobayashi, translated by Hana Anderson

In Japan, a large number of Karamono Tenmoku (chawan) 唐物天目(茶碗) –Tenmoku tea bowls imported from China– have been passed down for generations as heirlooms. These include Youhen Tenmoku 曜変天目 (iridescent Tenmoku) and Yuteki Tenmoku 油滴天目 (oil-spot tenmoku), many of which are designated as national treasures or important cultural properties . One Yuteki Tenmoku designated as a national treasure is housed at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka and is the only Kenyou 建窯 (Jian kiln) Yuteki Tenmoku endowed with this distinction (Frontispiece 2). It is regarded as the finest masterpiece of heirloom Yuteki Tenmoku present in Japan.

Scholars of the Late Ming & a Cup with Lin Hejing

by Céline Andre

Dating from the late Ming dynasty (approx. 1620 – 1644), this blue and white (qinghua, 清华) cup contains a cobalt-blue painting of a Song dynasty scholar and his crane (Figure 1). Due to its shape, clay quality, and design, it was most likely made during the reign of Emperor Tianqi (1621 – 1627) or Emperor Chongzhen (1628 – 1644). The most captivating feature of the cup lies in its figure painting of Lin Hejing—a reclusive scholar of the Northern Song (960 – 1126) period who was known to have two pet cranes. One may ponder the relevance of painting a Northern Song scholar like Lin Hejing on a late Ming qinghua cup. Like other respected figures represented in various forms of Chinese ceramics (i.e. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove or The Eight Immortals), the appearance of Lin Hejing on this qinghua cup represents the philosophical values of late Ming scholars towards the end of the dynasty. In this essay, I will aim to connect the outlook of Ming scholars and the challenges they experienced toward the end of the dynasty to the motif of Lin Hejing in the qinghua cup.

An Exploration of the History and Development of the Longquan Mallet Vase

by Lucian Filler

The Longquan celadon “mallet-form” (mallet vase), which sometimes is called a “paper-beater” vase and is widely known in Japan and in the West as “Kinuta” (Kinuta vase), can be found in many prestigious collections of Chinese ceramics. Over time, it has become one of the most quintessential Longquan celadon ceramic forms. Indeed, images of the Longquan mallet vase can be found prominently displayed in most books today that discuss Chinese Longquan celadon ceramic wares.

Zhādòu (渣斗) –A Form Lost to Time

by Neumann Anderson

Many ceramic forms have remained virtually unchanged for a millennium, reminding us of the daily commonalities we share with our ancestors. Other forms have no contemporary counterparts. Though the physical objects remain, their forms have, so to speak, become extinct. With the original function lost to time, the remnant objects become a tabula rasa upon which our modern biases and prejudices about the past are sometimes written. This process is clearly illustrated in the literature detailing the function of the focal piece of this essay.

A Large Jun Ware Bowl and the Influences on Its Design

by Aesara Rhys

The bowl in figure 1, has a glass-like crackle throughout the glaze of the bowl’s interior and exterior—leaving the bottom third of the bowl exposed and revealing a cream-white clay with a rust-colored coating. The bowl's interior rim is glazed in an ash gray-blue that transitions to a bright sky-blue in the center. A dark magenta-colored brush stroke with a pattern akin to microscopic histology is present on the interior of the bowl. The brush stroke was made by applying copper to the glaze, in this case in a shape resembling a large droplet angled toward the center, with a single drop next to the large brush stroke. Small, oxygenated capsules form a ring within the interior that can also be seen sporadically in the glazed outer body.

A Molded Black Ding Quatrefoil Dish from the Five Dynasties (907-960):

An Inheritance of Silver Traditions

by Dante Dumont

In attempts to understand how this black Ding dish came to be, the element that elicits the most intrigue is its form. Referred to as a “quatrefoil dish,” this form is exceedingly rare within the field of Chinese ceramics and Ding ware itself. Accordingly, an investigation into how this quatrefoil shape emerged in the medium of black Ding could be a valuable contribution in the historical field of ceramics. The origins of this dish’s quatrefoil form can be traced back hundreds of years before its development into black Ding—beyond the medium of ceramics and the cultural boundaries of China—to a material which was universally coveted by civilizations and nomadic regimes across the Eurasian continent: silver.

Jizhou Tea Bowl with Painted Motif

by Bernard Azevedo

Jizhou tea bowls are known for their unique glaze decorative designs, such as paper cut, leaf, and painted motifs. The interior decoration of the tea bowl featured in this article, Figure 1, appears to be representative of a swirling, stylized, plant vines decoration, referred to as classic scroll, knobbed classic scroll, or spiky scroll. As demonstrated in Figure 1, the tea bowl exhibits an exterior decorated with a tortoise shell glaze on a dark brown glazed background. This article will examine this Jizhou tea bowl, and others that are similar, to better understand its origin and the possible inspiration for the swirling decoration.