Two Chinese blue-and-white porcelain vases used as a diplomatic gift.
Two Chinese blue-and-white porcelain vases which played a part in international diplomacy – gifted by Mao Zedong to Edward Heath during a visit to Beijing in 1974.
A thoughtful gift?
The natural forms used to decorate these Chinese vases is laden with symbolism. The main pattern is of scrolling chrysanthemums. These flowers symbolise solid friendship and retirement from public office. Could this have been a deliberate choice?
The vases were a gift from Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao) to Edward Heath on the recently ex-Prime Minister’s first diplomatic visit to Beijing after he was voted out of office in 1974.
Porcelain production
These vases were made in Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of China. They are marked with the reign mark of the Qianlong Emperor (1736 – 1796). The design of these vases is an imitation of earlier Ming forms to honour past craftsmen.
Comparable item at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Making porcelain was a collaborative effort. Each part of the process was carried out by a specialist: refining the clay, moulding, throwing, painting, glazing, firing, packing and exporting. It was highly skilled work but toxic glazes, burning kilns, and bandits on trade routes made it dangerous.
Heath in China
Heath was fascinated with Chinese culture and had close personal and political links with the country. One of his key political achievements was to establish a full diplomatic relationship between the UK and China in 1972. Heath described how “there’s something quite exciting about being near the beginning of a great power.”
The collection at Arundells, Heath’s retreat in Salisbury’s Cathedral Close, tells of Heath’s fascination with Chinese culture. These vases are not the only gifts he received from Chinese statesmen and friends.
In 1974 two giant pandas, Chia-Chia and Ching-Ching, were presented to the British people by the Chinese government to commemorate Heath’s visit to China. China’s long history of “Panda diplomacy” stretched back as far as the Tang Dynasty, and was revived by Mao.
