Comments on: Chinese Porcelain At The Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

By: EbbaMyra

EbbaMyra — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:16:09 +0000

Being in the “Diversed city” of Houston, chinese and vietnamese stores are around. I have seen these kinds of plates sold in these stores, kaya lang hindi ko tiyak kung bago man ito or antique. And if its new, does it have same quality of that good china? I have seen kasi in some chinese cooking that they used this dish plate in some deep fried fish, wherein they poured boiling oil on top. Kasi I liked these plate that I saw, and its not that cheap (pero affordable naman), kaya nga lang I am not sure if it breaks easily.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:51:20 +0000

leyla, thanks for that, if IRAN ever opens up and its safe to visit, I am sure they have some fabulous treasures to be viewed! Apicio, yes I was amazed by how quickly they adjusted their items to meet the demands of buyers… it is a trait that has done them well over the millenia, apparently. Soon everything manufactured in the world will be made in China…

By: leyla gencer

leyla gencer — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:36:52 +0000

Iran has a magnificent collection that covers the same exact time span of the Topkapi collection.
There is a book by John Alexander Pope that documents this collection: “Chinese Ceramics from the Ardebil Shrine”

By: Apicio

Apicio — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:38:55 +0000

Isnâ€™t it astounding too that Chinese industry even at that early date was already acutely market sensitive. The stock in trade was not limited to porcelain, vast territories of the Ottoman empire was traversed by the silk road. They produced whatever was demanded by any particular cultural group. Just as now with us, close to any object that members of the Ottoman sultansâ€™ household picked up at that time must have been made in China. Did you notice too that designs and motifs remained unaltered and it mattered little that they were applying them on the radically different shapes that the Ottoman culture demanded? But there were also numerous other particular markets that Chinese manufacturers custom catered to. The American, English and European markets (blue Canton and Famille Verte), the Portuguese and Brazilian market where the heavily decorated and vividly colored Tobacco Leaf patterns was particularly coveted and then there were the generations of Siamese royalty for whom a particular set of shapes and gilded decorative style called Benjarong was for a long period of time supplied from China.

Remember the sunken ship ballasted with China Trade porcelain destined for Holland that they rescued from the deep a few years ago? Well part of the reason why industry and agriculture were not developed during most of Spainâ€™s watch over the Philippines was that they were preoccupied with this lucrative China trade and this far-flung outpost of the Spanish empire (us) was essentially controlled and kept as a mere entrepÃ´t.

By: The Steak Lady

The Steak Lady — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:10:52 +0000

what beautiful china! I was lucky to inherit a few Sung pieces from my mother in law, and im grateful that she had it authenticated at the National Museum. It really is worth the trouble and i believe would give your treasured pieces much more value. (although some antique experts in the Philippines are not very impressed with our curators) :-)

By: bijin

bijin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:46:30 +0000

What a stunning vollection!
When I first came to Japan I was fascinated by the antique blue and white ceramics that are being disposed of by the younger Japanese generation in favor of American and European antiques…. I started buying. Many of the ones I have are from the Meiji period. Now there are a lot of fake ones floating in the market..made in China of course…

By: sister

sister — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:08:10 +0000

Lola started collecting in the 20’s, unfortunately she traded the older pieces when she was in her 80’s. For another wonderful collection of Indo-chinese pottery and china don’t miss the Guimet Museum in Paris, before or after Dehillerin.

By: FoodJunkie

FoodJunkie — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:31:43 +0000

This museum is exquisite, I wish I had a similar collection…

By: Apicio

Apicio — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:30:41 +0000

No ho hum here. That was my point of going to Turkey aside from visiting the locales that were all too familiar from movies such as From Russia With Love and the Pink Panther and all its parodies. In the Metropolitan Museum in NY they actually display, side by side, original Chinese pieces and Ottoman copies. The copies were probably what they used from day to day and one of the reasons many of the original pieces survived. Well worth the detour to old Constantinople, imho.

By: estella

estella — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:24:02 +0000

oh, my god, those plates are absolutely beautiful! thanks for the historical information, mm. i truly find this very interesting. i, myself, am very particular with the plates i use
when serving my dishes. after all, you eat with your eyes first…as the saying goes.