Re-contextualized by Zifeng Liu, CH, c. 2025
A rare underglaze red dragon fragment from a 15th-century Ming globular vase forms the centerpiece of this paperweight. The porcelain shard carries the subtle contours of a dragon in flowing red pigment—its surface lightly flecked with greenish traces, a known trait of this demanding glaze. Underglaze red remains one of the most difficult techniques in Chinese porcelain, where only one in a hundred attempts might yield a desirable result.
Zifeng Liu preserves and elevates the shard through a minimalist yet highly tactile assemblage: embedded into a large, aged iron bearing ring—marked “7514” along its edge—and anchored by a dark red Qing dynasty rosewood panel. Known for reviving vintage fragments through sensitive interventions, Liu creates a piece that can serve as a teapot stand, paperweight, or focal object in a scholar’s studio. His work collapses time across dynasties and disciplines, inviting a deeper encounter with imperfection, rarity, and aged materials.
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