This porcelain dish was made at the kilns of Jingdezhen in the late 70s, when industrial production of ceramics ranged from traditional motifs to political and propaganda subjects painted in socialist-realist style. On this dish, a young girl, wearing a plain Cultural Revolution uniform, walks through the fields supporting an elderly peasant woman. She is carrying a bag with the characters 'Shanghai' and a first aid box, suggesting that she is a student from the city who has been sent to the countryside to become a 'barefoot doctor'.
The seal on the front reads: 'May a spring-like feeling spread across people', reinforcing the ideological and propagandistic message conveyed by the scene.
Physical description
Porcelain dish with a brown rim, painted in polychrome enamels with a scene of a young woman, supporting an old woman by the arm, walking in the fields. The girl is wearing a plain uniform composed of a baggy, pink, front-fastening cotton jacket and tan trousers, and plimsolls; her hair is bobbed and across her right shoulder she supports a carrying-pole with a cloth bundle at one end and a canvas bag at the other bearing the characters 'Shanghai', written in modern horizontal rather than traditional vertical sequence. Round her shoulder is a first-aid box. The old woman wears a traditional peasant dress with side-fastening cotton jacket and trousers, and cloth shoes, and she carries a string bag.
To the right are willow branches, and to the left rocks with bamboo and small blossoming plants. Three swallows fly in the sky.
Place of Origin
China (made)
Date
ca. 1975-1979 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown
Materials and Techniques
Porcelain painted in overglaze polychrome enamels
Marks and inscriptions
Overglaze red seal 'chun man ren jian'
May a spring-like feelings spread across people
Red mark 'Zhongguo Jingdezhen' on the base
Made in Jingdezhen, China
Dimensions
Diameter: 34 cm
Descriptive line
Porcelain dish, painted with a scene of a young woman supporting an old woman by the arm, China, ca. 1975-1979
Labels and date
Dish
Porcelain painted in enamels
China (Jingdezhen), about 1975
Given by Dr Simon Kwan
FE.30-1990
Painted in the socialist realist style, a young girl in Cultural Revolution uniform and bobbed hair is supporting an elderly peasant woman. She is carrying a bag with the characters 'Shanghai' and a first aid box, the implication being that she is a student from the city who has become a barefoot doctor. The seal on the front reads: 'May a spring-like feeling spread across the whole world'. [pre-2009]
Materials
Porcelain
Techniques
Painting
Subjects depicted
Plants; Women
Categories
Porcelain; Ceramics; Propaganda
Collection
East Asia Collection