WAN Yuting ^{1, 2}, ZHANG Chaohui ³, ZHANG Qing ⁴

(1. Jiangxi Arts & Ceramics Technology Institute, Jingdezhen 333000, Jiangxi, China; 2. City Universtiy of Macau,Macao 999078, 

China; 3. School of Design and Art, Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Jingdezhen 333403, Jiangxi, China;

4. Jingdezhen Ninggang Art Museum, Jingdezhen 333000, Jiangxi, China)

Extended abstract:[Background and purposes] In the 16th to 18th centuries, with the prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road, Chinese export porcelain became an important medium for cultural exchange between China and Europe, with the decorative patterns carrying deep connotations of cross-cultural dialogue. Children as a core motif in export porcelain not only continued the auspicious meanings of traditional Chinese infant play scenes but also spurred technological innovation and cultural translation due to European market demands. However, previous studies mostly focused on the one-way transmission of patterns, while overlooking the active role of both Chinese and European parties in craft collaboration and symbolic reconstruction. In this study, children were taken as a starting point to reveal the dynamic cross-cultural negotiation mechanisms behind the decoration of export porcelain, exploring how Chinese famille-rose techniques and European metal inlaying and secondary coloring technologies co-created a "third space," as well as the gender concepts and value orientations implicit in children's images, thus providing new perspectives for global art history research.[Methods] Three methods were employed, including typological analysis, iconographic comparison and archival research. Typological analysis involved categorizing six sets of key export porcelain items featuring children from institutions, such as the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, based on themes (children playing with infants, mythological stories) and techniques (fondue, ink-and-gold, metal inlay), to establish an image database. Iconographic comparison involves visual lineage analysis of porcelain patterns with contemporary Chinese literati paintings and European prints (such as those by Edmond Laat), to decipher the path of symbolic translation. Archival research involves quantitatively analyzing the correlation between market demand and pattern evolution by examining records of "kinderfiguren" (Childrens images) custom orders in the Dutch East India Companiess order books from 1637 to 1795.[Results] The bidirectionality of Sino-European technical collaboration is reflected in the Chinese local translation and European recreation, i.e., Jingdezhen craftsmen integrated Confucian ritual studies and Daoist "pure as an infant" philosophy into their famille-rose techniques, significantly enhancing the color gradation compared to Kangxi wucai. European recreation includes European artisans metal inlaying on Chinese porcelain (Fig. 6) sanctified the objects, with the coverage of gilded attachments positively correlated with the social status of the users and secondary coloring by Dutch workshops (Fig. 9) to achieve cultural recontextualization. The cultural translation mechanism of children's images was reflected in the differences in gender construction and the logic of symbolic recombination. In Chinese export porcelain, children are almost exclusively male, reflecting the "male succession worship" under the Confucian patriarchal system, whereas in European custom-made porcelain, Cupid (Fig. 4–5) is gender-neutral, emphasizing the universal theme of "Holy Love." Value-oriented interactive influence was reflected by the Confucian concept of "more children, more blessings", which is embedded in the decorative system through plant symbols, such as pomegranates and lotus roots (Fig. 1). Meanwhile, the aesthetic reconstruction of "childhood innocence" by European Rococo art (Fig. 5) prompted Chinese craftsmen to absorb perspective and chiaroscuro techniques, significantly enhancing the three-dimensionality of the figures on export porcelain between 1730 and 1760.[Conclusions] It is demonstrated that children-themed export porcelain from the 16th to 18th centuries was not merely a product of cultural export, but a "material dialogue field" constructed through technical competition and symbolic recombination between China and Europe. Chinese craftsmen achieved aesthetic transcoding of infant play scenes using famille-rose techniques, while European artisans completed cultural connotations through metal inlay and secondary coloring. This two-way interaction gave rise to a cross-cultural artifact characterized by both "technological hybridity" and "meaning fluidity." Firstly, the evolution of export porcelain decoration was driven by three forces, i.e., market demand, technological dissemination and religious beliefs. Secondly, the gender setting and symbolic selection in children's images profoundly reflect the tension between Confucian clan system and Christian humanism. Thirdly, the "translation-adaptation-innovation" model formed through craft collaboration between China and Europe provides a typical example of material cultural exchange during the early globalization era. In this study, not only the traditional narrative of "Sino-Western dichotomy" was revised, but also historical insights for contemporary practices of cultural exchange were offered.

Key words: 16th to 18th century; export porcelain; decorative design; children's themes