Foreword 
前言

The University Museum and Art Gallery is privileged to present Red and Blue and White: Yuan and Early Ming Dynasty Ceramics from the Jinglexuan Collection, an exhibition documenting the advanced development of red-and-white and blue-and-white Chinese ceramics. These highly sophisticated artefacts would come to take on unprecedented importance both for the domestic and foreign markets. 

While the surface decorations exemplify technological advances in glaze materials and firing techniques, the depicted iconography employs a vocabulary of symbols long celebrated in Chinese culture. Rare examples display stylistic features adapted into export wares that were—like some of the decorative bottles and bowls sent to patrons in the Middle East—more Islamic than Chinese in terms of shapes and motifs. 

At the University Museum, this selection of ceramics prefaces and extends the museum’s own collection and the array of further developed forms and colours that characterise later Ming and Qing dynasty porcelains. We are grateful to the Jinglexuan Collection for this opportunity to curate such an exceptionally expansive and educational display.

香港大學美術博物館呈獻《縈青繞紅：靜樂軒藏元至明初陶瓷》，展出青花與釉裡紅之珍藏，佐證陶瓷在中土和海外銷售之盛。青花與釉裡紅為瓷器的表面紋飾，精緻潔麗，說明當時工匠掌握調配釉料和控制窯火的技術。瓷器上所繪圖象的象徵意義源遠流長，承載著華夏文化。瓶、碗等出口中東的產品，不僅採用華夏風格，更顯伊斯蘭器物特色。此批早期青花及釉裡紅展品，闡述了瓷器形制和裝飾藝術的發展，更為館內明清瓷器的源流，提供切入角度。靜樂軒借出珍藏，使陶瓷展示更見周全，饒益藝術教育，本館謹此致謝。