Famous Chinese Porcelain and British Queen’s Wedding Anniversary

The 2009 China Jingdezhen International Ceramics Fair in October drew a large crowd of visitors from around the world to the capital of porcelain to admire the beautiful displays from various countries. Among them， a 12-member British delegation from the Bath North East Somerset Council headed by Councilor Francine Haeberling had an additional special reason for their visit.

During the visit to Jingdezhen on October 17， delegation member Bei Xuexian， Director of the Council’s China Affairs Department and President of the UK-China Culture Association (UKCCA)， paid a special call on Liu Yuanchang， a grand master of Chinese arts and crafts， to thank him for the carved porcelain “Happiness， Longevity， Fortune and Prosperity” he made for the 60th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and presented Master Liu with a glass vase for use by the British royal family as an expression of gratitude.

The carved porcelain， designed and created by Master Liu in 2007， has a novel shape and is pure， elegant and lifelike with unique features of oriental art. It was much admired by the Queen. In developing the work， he used the legends about the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy who averts calamities.By using the homophone between Buddha’s hand and the Chinese characters for happiness and longevity， as well as the special techniques of combining traditional round sculpture with applied relief， he created a benevolent and dexterous jade-like Buddha’s hand and kneaded a blooming white peony on the palm with an implied meaning of blooming flowers， fortune and prosperity. This was a strong message conveying the UKCCA’s congratulations to Queen and her husband on their long marriage virtually spanning all of the Queen’s reign.

In 1947， Crown Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were married. On the 60th anniversary， in order to enhance friendship between China and the United Kingdom， Mr. Bei Xuexian wanted to present something special to the Queen. He knew she liked Chinese porcelains very much. In her early youth， she used to look at the Chinese porcelains displayed in the royal court and listen to the stories about them from her grandmother， which created a strong attraction to beautiful Chinese porcelain. During Queen’s visit to China in October 1986， the Shanghai Municipal Government held a banquet in her honor in the Jinjiang Hotel. The Hotel specially used a set of classic dishware made in Jingdezhen in the Qing Dynasty. The Queen was delighted. After the banquet， she discussed with the Chinese experts about Chinese porcelain and especially praised the beauty of products from Jingdezhen. Twice， in recent years， the UKCCA received from the Queen’s representative porcelains for the use of the royal family. Then， Bei Xuexian， in consultation with his colleagues， decided that the UKCCA’s wedding anniversary gift should be some famous Jingdezhen porcelain.Research showed that， at the time of her marriage， the gift the Queen had received from the Chinese Government was such Jingdezhen porcelain— a set of dishware “Two Dragons Play with the Ball” in Famille Rose. The pattern of dragon on this set of dishware was wholly painted with pure gold powder and polished with agate after baking. Its color looks magnificent and is unfading. It will even become more glittering with the passage of time. On the edge of dishes such as bowls and plates， one can see the ruyi pattern hand-painted by senior artisans after the lower part was painted with patterns of sea water applied with classic color of fir green， simple and elegant， graceful and original. The British royal family was very much satisfied with the gift. After looking at the dishware， the Crown Princess praised it as “exquisite and splendid”. In the documentary film about the gifts given by other countries made by the British royal family after Elizabeth’s marriage， quite a long part of it was devoted to introduce the dishware “Two Dragons Play with the Ball”. British embassies abroad showed this documentary in many countries. Beautiful Jingdezhen porcelain caused a great sensation as a result.