Page 169 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942.9-610 (C-46i)
Meiping Shape
Vase y

Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Porcelain with famille verte enamels on the biscuit,
5
3
34.6x19.7 (i3 /8X7 /4)
Widener Collection
TECHNICAL NOTES
This heavy vase was thrown in two parts that were luted togeth-
er. The body is white and has fired to a pale orange color on the
foot. The foot-ring is wide, flat, and unglazed; a small circle at
its center is recessed and glazed. The interior is unglazed, except
for white glaze on the upper neck and bottom. There are minor
glaze flaws on the surface and a line inside the neck where the
glaze has pulled away from itself.

PROVENANCE
General Brayton Ives [1840-1914], New York. (Gorer, London);
sold 1913 to Peter A. B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park,
Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by
gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener,
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

HE EXTERIOR OF THE VASE IS DECORATED with a depic-
Ttion of egrets in a lotus pond. The aubergine ground
is unusual and suggests that the vase dates from an early
phase in the evolution of the famille verte palette, before
the green or black backgrounds had come to predomi-
nate. Otherwise the enamel colors are the same as those
used later (black, yellow, aubergine, and three shades of
green, including lime green). The dark texture strokes
appear to have been painted over the enamel washes,
instead of under the enamels as is more typical.
The vase is also unusual in that it represents a rare
appearance of the meiping shape in the early Qing dynasty.
Following the late-Ming Wanli reign (1570-1620), the
meiping occurred only rarely in the seventeenth century.
SL

P O R C E L A I N S 153