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transition from late Qing to early republic

by Stan
(Milwaukie OR.)

Hi Peter, a while ago we discussed some of the colors that the Chinese did not use prior to the early republic such as blue and red were never used together on porcelain, how ever on early republic after the dynasties they started using red and blue together. Do you know or does anyone for sure just when they started using these color combinations together, because if that is true then it also would apply to anything and not just porcelain, such as art work, paintings and ect. I just bought a painting, it looks old to me about 1910 to 1920, I bought it because the color combinations are very clear, red and blue flags and what appears to be a warrior or a prince, and it is signed, I do not know if there is a date but if you are interested in viewing it I would love to send you some photos, so you could possibly interpret the writing, if there is a date that could date some of the porcelain with the same color combinations, thank from Stan.

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Nov 15, 2011
 colors
by: peter

Stan,
I doubt there is a relation to the colors used between paintings and porcelain, but I could be wrong.
These colors are too far off the bright red and blue I mentioned earlier.
One reason was that before the arrival of chemical dyes, some colors were just difficult to use on porcelain, the other is the associations the blue color had in Chinese society. But I cannot see anything of that in the painting.

The writing reads "Shuo Lei" in mandarin and could be the painter's name, not the painting's title.
Nothing of a prince there, I think...to me this looks rather as if it were a female. There were a few famous woman warriors in Chinese history.
Nov 14, 2011
 transition
by: peter

Hi Stan,
Yes, I would be interested to have a look at it. If you prefer, you can use the other blog for discussing this.
No, I don't know when the color combination started to be used, exactly.
If I can, I will bring this subject up this week, at a meeting where antique Chinese ceramics matters are discussed. However, if I can't, it may be a month until I have the opportunity next time; I will be going to Europe next week.

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