Its golden fleet sailed the seas, bringing Chinese exports of porcelain, tea, lacquer ware, and precious metals to Japan and the Near East.
Throughout eight galleries, cranes and egrets roost in gilded screens, eagles swoop down on prey in hanging scrolls, sparrows and swallows variously flit across the black night of lacquer and the pure white of porcelain, and all manner of avian beauty graces works big and small.
She buys herself a piece of fine porcelain (usually from Royal Copenhagen) each year.
Set around a rotunda that mirrors the gentle curves of the porcelain, the Korean collection is housed in an ochre building by architect Mario Botta with a turret and battlements--"Like a castle guarding traditional art, " says Park Min-sun, a Leeum spokeswoman.
If you think the rest of the world is interested in hearing about your collection of Ottoman porcelain or why "The Catcher in the Rye" is the great American novel (yawn) you really do need an ego the size of a house.
Sculptor Lynne Yamamoto, better known for giant installations of pineapple plantations, was recently building a porcelain version of the avian flu virus, below a tower of toilets.
Welcomed by about 1, 000 well-wishers, a military band and tri-service guard of honour, the Queen was given a porcelain model of the Brandenburg Gate and the duke a wristwatch by President Kohler and his wife, Eva Luise.
The bar itself has an under-lit agate counter that's flanked by a pair of Casa Pupo porcelain leopards a late 1970s byword in bad taste and a complete triumph in this room.
Fatally, he played some of this best material, like the hit single Porcelain, at the start of the gig, leaving him nowhere to go.
Under the glare of electric lights, I saw that the porcelain was coated with a layer of dust, the silverware dulled by tarnish.
Emin's own touches are everywhere, from porcelain ornaments of cats, which she collects, to well-worn sofas that add a more personal feel to the space and on which she likes to think, draw and sew.
In fact, he owns perhaps the largest collection of Mialhe's sketches transferred onto porcelain dishware, which occupy shelves on two walls of his dining room.
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Maybe Apple can figure out a way to brick any iPhone used to place a video call from within three feet of a water-filled porcelain object.
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Everywhere you look there are porcelain ornaments: of more cats, of mice, even a couple of rabbits on the kitchen hearth, which she has adorned with a string of colored fairy lights.
Marie-Antoinette's love of interior decoration is conveyed through the exquisite furniture and porcelain with which she surrounded herself, such as her mother-of-pearl and gilded bronze writing desk.
The pool area is designed in the style of Victorian swimming baths, with porcelain tiles and a high ceiling.
Brosnan seems at ease, Moore is as crackable as fine porcelain, and both of them cast around for funny lines that never come their way.
Kohler has a line of toilets with silver embedded in the porcelain.
Apply all that new technology to an ancient lexicon of good manners that precluded not only the preparation but the cutting of food at Chinese tables, rich or poor, and you have no need for any tableware beyond your chopsticks, a couple of serving pieces, and a slippery porcelain spoon for soup.
There are Hawaiian leis in the colours of the German flag, life-size porcelain dogs and alarm clocks topped with pole-dancing dolls.
Later, after Veda grows up and becomes a radio star (played by Evan Rachel Wood), Haynes gives her a porcelain pallor and a mannered style of speech.
Over time, three major pottery types developed: earthenware, stoneware and porcelain, each distinguished by the type of clay used and the temperature at which it is fired.
In April 2010 Chestnut was sued by a former investor who alleged fraud and accused Plummer of using investors' money for such things as porcelain teeth veneers, a Lexus SUV for his wife and membership at Dallas' Canyon Creek Country Club.
Turns out it's a thing of great beauty and high performance: available in porcelain enamel in every color with brass or nickel handles and renowned for a "Top Chef"-esteemed combo of side-by-side electric and gas ovens for both dry and moist heat.
Not only does it have eye candy amenities like a glass elevator and porcelain floors, but it also has a long list of green features including a solar heat pool, vent-less fireplaces fueled by bio-ethanol, and thermal glass double-glazed U.V. windows.
Antonio Capelao, of London's Bicha Gallery, was betting on artist Anna Barlow's porcelain ice-cream sculptures.
Ms Lovell weaves this story into the historical brocade of the early 19th century, when European demand for Chinese silk, tea and porcelain was insatiable.
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The green bits, the stems and leaves, began as porcelain too but were so prone to breaking that the artist now constructs them of painted metal, or tole.
Meanwhile, the elegantly restrained, two-story Chinese restaurant Lu Yu, courtesy of LTW, avoids the trap of obvious chinoiserie: Stacked abacuses line a wall near the entrance, while pale celadon porcelain bricks adorn the upstairs entryway.
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