Page 55 - Mounted Oriental Porcelain, The Getty Museum

6. L I D D E D B O W L

THE PORCELAIN: Japanese (Imari), early eighteenth century
THE SILVER MOUNTS: French (Paris), 1717-22
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HEIGHT: 8 /4 in. (22.3 cm); WIDTH: io /s in. (27.1 cm); DIAMETER: 8 /s in. (21.2 cm)
74.Di.Z7

DESCRIPTION
The deep straight-sided bowl and shallow lid are
enameled with iron red and gilt over underglaze blue
with chrysanthemum branches on a white ground. Some
of the flowers are molded in low relief, created by slip.
The body is covered with a typical Imari blue-tinged
translucent glaze. The foot of the lid (an inverted dish) is
painted with a classic scroll in underglaze blue.
The bowl is mounted around the rim and foot with
silver and fitted at each side with a silver handle attached
to pierced strap work that joins the rim to the foot. The
lid is similarly mounted around its lower edge and is
surmounted by a finial. The rim of the bowl is encircled
by a simple molding, the foot by a larger gadrooned
molding. The handle at each side springs from pierced,
foliate, scrolled, and interlacing strapwork that is at-
tached to the moldings above and below by pinned
hinges (fig. 6 A). The lid is encircled by a gadrooned
molding around the rim and surmounted by a tall finial
in the form of a leaf cup that contains a grape cluster set
on a low cylindrical base of silver embellished with
gadrooning and acanthus. This fits over the porcelain
foot of the inverted dish, which functions as a lid.

MARKS
FIG. 6A
The silver mounts are struck with the following
Parisian marks. On the base of the silver knop: a fleur-
de-lys; on the rim of the lid: a fleur-de-lys, a butterfly,
and a salmon's head (fig. 6B); on each handle: a fleur-de
lys and a butterfly; on the upper rim of the lid: a fleur-
de-lys; on the rim of the bowl: a butterfly, a fleur-de-lys,
and a dog's head (fig. 6c). A butterfly is the counter mark
used between May 6, 1722, and September 2, 1727,
under the fermier Charles Cordier. A salmon's head is

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