As You Wish: Symbol and Meaning on Chinese Porcelains from the Taft Museum
如意：中国瓷器上的吉祥图案

Ritual objects, tableware, and household goods produced during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) were admired for their aesthetic and technical refinements. This exhibition presented sixty-four stunning examples of eighteenth-century monochrome, blue-and-white, and polychrome porcelains from the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio. Selected ceramics were chosen for the decorative motifs that conveyed the social, political, and cultural messages of the ruling class. At center stage were the symbolic meanings of colors, forms, narrative scenes, linguistic and visual puzzles, as well as puns embedded within the decoration of the objects. By reading and interpreting the variety of decorative elements, the exhibition explored the literary and artistic sources of images and symbols.