Page 119 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942.9-501 (C-354)
Vase with Ringed Neck

Qing dynasty, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722)
5
1
Porcelain with celadon glaze, 19.3 x 8.0 (7 /s x 3 /s)
Widener Collection
INSCRIPTION
Inscribed in standard script on the base in underglaze blue in
three vertical lines of two characters each: Da Qing Kangxi nian
zhi [made in the Kangxi reign of the great Qing dynasty]

NOTES TECHNICAL NOTES
1. Morgan 1904-1911, 2: 81, no. 1334. The pale green glaze thins along the two ridges at the neck and
a third at the top of the shoulder, revealing the white body of
2. The National Gallery's five peachbloom examples are the vessel; darker areas where the glaze pooled adjoin these
1942.9.511-513, 521, and 522. Comparable celadon examples may between the ridges and just below the lip on the exterior of the
be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: neck in a distinct band of color. Similar variations in hue also
Valenstein 1989, 241, no. 244, repro.; and The Palace Museum, appear in the relief dragon design. Slight differences in the
Beijing: Sekai tdji zenshu 1975-1985,15: 40, pi. 32.
modeling of the appliqued dragons suggest that the dragons
The University Museum, Philadelphia, also possesses an were individually sculpted and not molded. The celadon glaze
unpublished vase of this type, ace. no. 88-10-53, from the col- is applied to the interior of the neck as well as the exterior of the
lection of Dr. Frank Crozer Knowles. An example in the Baur vase and is for the most part even, with a few burst bubbles and
Collection, Geneva, was cut down at the neck: Ayers 1968-1974, scattered dark spots. There is a small, ovoid, unglazed hole on
3: A357, repro. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has an the upper ridge on the neck, however, more likely a firing flaw
excellent white (colorless-glazed) petal-decorated vase: see than a chip. A colorless glaze covers the slightly concave base;
Valenstein 1989, 238, no. 239, repro. Two Yongzheng-marked the six characters of the mark are spaced rather closely near the
celadon vases with fifteen petals of a broader shape that actual- center of the base.
ly look more like lotus petals may represent a later development
of these vases: Important Chinese Ceramics, sale, Sotheby's, PROVENANCE
Hong Kong, 15 November 1988, lot 304, repro. (Yamanaka & Co., sale, American Art Association, New York,
3. Chait 1957,132. 29-31 January 1914, no. 319)/ sold to Peter A. B. Widener,
Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from
4. Lovell 1975, 328-343- Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appoint-
5. Tsai 1986, 40, no. 12, repro.; Tan 1985, 842, pi. 531. Although ment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
the celadon example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is labeled
as a vase with floral petal design in the English caption, in the EXHIBITED
Japanese text chrysanthemum is mentioned: Sekai tdji zenshu A Remarkable Collection of Ancient Chinese Art, American Art
1975-1985,15: 40.
Galleries, New York, 1914.
6. In his entry on a peachbloom vase of this type in the Cleveland
Museum of Art, Waikam Ho is noncommittal when he says, "The HIS DRAGON-DECORATED VASE is essentially a variant
Cleveland vase is known as 'lotus petal vase' or more popularly as T of one of the prescribed peachbloom shapes, the
a 'chrysanthemum vase,'" Neils 1982,131.
"three-string vase," so named after the three ridges
7. See the discussion of peachbloom petal vessels in the entry adorning the base of its neck. 2 The relief design of two
for 1949.9.511—513, 521—522; also Chait 1957,132-137.
three-clawed dragons distinguishes it from the majority
8. See the discussion of laifu in entries 1942.9.492-494 and of the Qing monochromes in the National Gallery col-
1942.9.501. 3
lection, which are devoid of any added ornament.
9. Ts'ao 1981, 39, no. 2, repro.; Tsai 1986, 40, no. 12, repro. Indeed it would appear that the majority of Qing mono-
chromes, particularly the very finest Kangxi wares, were
most often left plain. Nevertheless, these celadon-glazed
REFERENCES dragon-decorated vases are well represented in many
1904-1911 Morgan: 2: 81, no. 1334, pi. 128 [1942.9.499]. collections. Vases virtually identical to this example are
1947 Christensen: 26, 32, repro.; 1956: 30, 32, fig. 14. found at the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; the

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