Page 139 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942-9-534 (C-387)
J UDGING BY THE NUMBER of glaze was a favorite for this Jar
it
similar jars that
survive,
appears
that
apple-green
kind of ovoid jar with a short everted neck. Among the Qing dynasty, late eighteenth century
comparable jars in other collections, a particularly close Porcelain with apple-green glaze, 21.6 x 18.5 (SVi x 7)
parallel in size, proportion, and technique is at the Yale Widener Collection
University Art Gallery, New Haven. 2 The Altman collec-
tion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, TECHNICAL NOTES
includes several apple-green jars of related shape and Both the base and foot are unglazed and covered with a dark
3
type. The University Museum, Philadelphia, also has an brown wash. Much of the wash has worn off the foot-ring,
apple-green jar of this kind, 4 and yet another similar revealing the beige body. The underlying glaze, visible in a
mouth
at
the
the
apple-green jar was included in an important exhibition broad band crackle is much rim and in more interior, is grayish
white;
that
than
even
the
finer
of
and
of Ming and Qing monochromes held in London in 1948. 5 1942.9.533. The jar appears stained: A few drops of green enam-
From the beginning of the history of Chinese ceramics, el dot both the inside and outside of the lip, ending in a very
jars were made in a variety of forms and with a variety of uneven line at the foot, sometimes dribbling over the underly-
adornments. These apple-green jars in the National ing glaze, sometimes not covering it all. A few brown specks
Gallery and other collections particularly recall mono- and some pinholes can be seen. Some iridescence in the green
chrome glazed jars of similar shape made in the Tang surface is visible when the jar is moved around under light.
and Ming dynasties. Ming stoneware and porcelain jars
are the more likely prototypes, because of their availabil- PROVENANCE
ity. 6 In contrast to these jars, all of which have rather J. Pierpont Morgan [1837-1913], New York; (Duveen Brothers,
thickly potted bodies and rounded contours, is a jar with New York and London); sold 1915 to Peter A. B. Widener,
a Kangxi mark that has green enamel glaze applied to the Lynnewood Park, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from
power of
Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through
appoint-
biscuit and a plain white interior. It appears to be related ment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
to another unmarked jar with green enamel applied over
a glaze in the Butler family collection, attributed to the EXHIBITED
7
Shunzhi period. Whether these should be taken as sole- On display in the Morgan galleries of the Metropolitan
ly representative of seventeenth-century green enameled Museum of Art, New York, c. 191O-19H. 1
jars is debatable, but they differ enough to make a later
date for jars such as this likely. A T FIRST GLANCE THIS JAR LOOKS SO similar to 1942.9.533
VB as to be its double. It is only slightly larger and of
basically the same proportion, technique, and color. 2 The
NOTES color is more even in tone, however, and the crackle more
1. Davies Collection 1913,162-167. uniform and closely meshed in this example. Judging
2. Lee 1970,174, no. 348, repro. from the dribbling, the green enamel was either more
carelessly applied or less controllable at the foot of this
3. Chow 1961-1962,16, fig. 15, illustrates an apple-green jar with
an unglazed foot from this collection that is much more globular jar. In contrast, the broad white band created at the
than the jar in the National Gallery collection. Some unpublished mouth is much neater and even wider than that of
examples that are closer in shape include 14.40.348, 14.40.349, 1942.9.533. None of these disparities warrants a difference
14.40.342, and 14.40.345. in dating, but they do indicate variation within a type
4. The unpublished piece, ace. no. 88-10-51, was in the and time of production.
collection of Dr. Frank Crozer Knowles. VB
5. Ceramic Society 1951, 58, no. 153, pi. 27, middle row.
NOTES
6. For a Ming example of a large turquoise jar of this shape,
see Lion-Goldschmidt 1978,121, pi. 95. 1. Morgan 1904-1911, 2: 91, no. 1387.
7. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Christie's, 3 June 2. See the entry for 1942.9.533 for other jars of this type.
1993. New York, 144, lot 235, repro. See also Butler, Medley, and
Little 1990,124, pi. 75. REFERENCES
1904-1911 Morgan: 2: 91, no. 1387.
REFERENCES 1947 Christensen: 23, repro.; 1956: 23-24, 27, fig. lod.
1911 Gorer and Blacker: 2: pi. 167.
1913 Gorer: 34, no. 159, pi. 7.
1947 Christensen: 23; 1956: 23-24.

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