Page 126 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

seems to correspond to other pieces attributed to the 4. A similar piece was exhibited at The International Exhibition
Kangxi period, the late seventeenth or early eighteenth of Chinese Art, London, 1935-1936, and is illustrated in Fine
century. However, the pear shape of 1942.9.535 has more Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, sale, Sotheby's, Hong Kong,
late-eighteenth-century counterparts. 20 May 1981, 135, no. 802. Comparable vases are in the British
Although similar, the three vases show slight differ- Museum, London: Jenyns 1951, pi. 105, fig. 2A; and the Asian Art
ences in shape and glaze color. The profile of both Museum, San Francisco: Lefebvre d'Argence 1967, pi. 65 (B).
1942.9.537 and 1942.9.542 is globular with slightly Others are illustrated in Hobson 1925, color pi. 23, fig. i; Koyama
squared broad shoulders and an expanding mouth. Vase et al. 1955-1958,12: fig. 74; Hobson 1925-1928,5: pi. 69, no. £145.
1942.9.542 is the largest of the three. Most apple-green 5. Ayers 1985,172-173, no. 145, repro.
bottle vases of this type appear to be about the same size, 6. There are several such examples:
ranging from about 12 to 18 cm (4-8 in.) in height. An 1. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven: Lee 1970,
exception is the previously mentioned vase in the Koger 186, no. 374, repro.
collection, which measures 33.7 cm (13^4 in.) high and is 2. An extensive collection of apple-green bottle vases in the
attributed to the later reigns of Yongzheng or Qianlong. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. One, 14.40.350, is
1942.9.537 and 1942.9.542 have a similar pale green color, illustrated in color in Hobby 1953, pi. 18. Another vase,
lighter than many other vessels usually described as apple- 66.206.13 (from the Edwin C. Vogel collection), resembles
green. The underlying grayish white glaze of 1942.9.542, 1942.9.537 and 542 in its squared shoulder and slightly
however, has a smaller, less uniformly sized crackle than expanding neck. Others of this type in the Metropolitan
that of 1942.9.537. A number of comparably dated apple- include 14.40.346 (Altman collection) and 66.206.12 (Vogel
6
green bottle vases are known. The existence of so many of collection). Another Altman piece, 14.40.240, has proportions
these bottle vessels, especially in the West, attests as much more like 1942.9.535.
to the popularity of this shape and glaze among late nine- 3. An example in Hong Kong: Min Chiu 1977,131, no.
teenth- and early twentieth-century Western collectors as 60, 66, repro.
to the widespread manufacture of the type. 4. An apple-green vase sold at auction: Fine Chinese
VB/JK Ceramics and Works of Art, sale, Sotheby's, New York,
31 May 1989, no. 171, repro.
NOTES 5. One in the Percival David Foundation, London: Medley
1. Josephine Hadley Knapp's initial research provided the basis i973> 37> A556, pi. 7. Medley does not date this to Kangxi, or
for the dating of these wares in the National Gallery's collection. the early eighteenth century, but simply to the eighteenth
2. Dated 27 August 1965 (in NGA curatorial files). century.
3. Some experts place the development of this glaze during the 6. Another example in a private collection in Germany:
Yongzheng reign as an outgrowth of the marked hibiscus green Hempel 1974,117, no. 181, repro.
series; if so, a date in the first half of the eigtheenth 7. In the Meiyintang collection in Switzerland with
century would be likely. See Feng 1992, 434-436. Krahl 1994, 2: proportions close to 1942.9.542. Krahl 1994, 2: 222, with
2
222-223, 55> makes a distinction between a ware with a bright a mid-eigtheenth-century date.
green enamel placed over a thick crackled glaze made for a rel-
atively short time during the eighteenth century and another
with a darker and slightly mottled enamel over a thinner glaze REFERENCES
dating to the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 1911 Gorer: 70, no. 346 [i942.9-535l; 75> no. 379 [1942.9-537] •

110 D E C O R A T I V E A R T S