Page 149 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942-9-552 (C-405)
Vase in the Shape of
a Double Gourd

Qing dynasty, eighteenth century
3
3
Porcelain with yellow glaze, 43.6 x 24.8 (i/ /i6 x 9 /4)
Widener Collection
TECHNICAL NOTES
This large vase is made from two globular sections luted
together at the waist; the lower section is itself made in two
parts. The upper section rises in a tapering neck to the lip. Two
parallel grooves encircle the waist. With the exception of the
rounded foot-ring, the entire vessel is covered with a deep yellow
transparent glaze.

PROVENANCE
1
M. J. Perry. J. Pierpont Morgan [1837-1913], New York. (Duveen
Brothers, New York and London); sold 1915 to Peter A. B.
Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheri-
tance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of
appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

HE DOUBLE GOURD SHAPE has a long history in
TChinese ceramics, first appearing during the Song
dynasty. 2 Double gourds were often the attributes of
Daoist immortals containing their ethereal manifesta-
tion, which could be called forth to perform miracles or
travel great distances. 3
SL

NOTES
1. Edith Standen's notes on the Widener collection (in
NGA curatorial files). Probably Marsden J. Perry, Providence,
Rhode Island, as he was a collector of Chinese porcelains, six of
which are currently in the National Gallery collection.
2. For a Song example of this shape, see du Boulay 1984,84, fig. 8.
3. See, for example, the double gourd in the Yuan-dynasty
painter Yan Hui's depiction of the immortal Li Tieguai, in the
collection of the Chion-in, Kyoto; published in Siren 1956-1968,
6: fig. 9.

REFERENCES
1904-1911 Morgan: 2: 80, no. 1315, pi. 121.

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P O R C E L A I N S