Page 186 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942.9.558 (C-4ii)
Miniature Table

Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Porcelain with famillejaune enamels on the biscuit,
13
13
7.1 x 33.3 x 14.8 (2 /i6 x 13 Vs x 5 /i6)
Widener Collection
TECHNICAL NOTES
One foot has broken off and been repaired, with painting over gu), which includes symbols of scholarly attainment and
the break. good fortune. In this example they include the following
objects: a mat with two binders of books and a bronze
PROVENANCE wine vase with ladle, a vase containing a lingzhi mush-
J. Pierpont Morgan [1837-1913], New York, by 1904. (Duveen room, two scrolls, two brushes, an inkstone, two inter-
Brothers, New York and London); sold to Peter A. B. Widener,
Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from locked rings, a qin (zither) in a silk bag, a large bronze
Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appoint- vase with flowers, a rhinoceros horn (symbol of happi-
ment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. ness), a mirror, a slender bronze vase, four incense burn-
ers in the shape of archaic ritual bronze ding vessels, a
HIS MINIATURE TABLE WAS HAND BUILT and was cup on an artemisia leaf, a covered box, a wine pot with
Tdesigned for use on a scholar's desk. The legs are sep- two stacked cups, a weiqi (a game similar to the Japanese
arately molded and luted onto the rectangular slab that game go) board with containers for the playing pieces, a
functions as the top. The underside and the interior sides lozenge (symbol of victory), another incense burner, and
of the legs are covered with a transparent greenish enam- a touhu (a vase with two lugs for holding arrows, which
el. The bottoms of three of the legs are unglazed, while are thrown into the pot in a popular drinking game).
the fourth is covered with the transparent enamel. A similar table is in the Museum of Far Eastern
1
The decoration is painted in the famille jaune palette, Antiquities, Stockholm.
which includes yellow, aubergine, black, and three shades SL
of green. The exterior sides of the four legs are decorat-
ed with floral scrolls. NOTES
The table top is framed by panels containing floral i. Wirgin 1974: pi. 4i(b).
scrolls, reserved against a checkered diaper band. The
rectangular center is painted with a large number of
scholarly implements and symbols against a yellow REFERENCES
ground. Together these objects and symbols make up the 1904-1911 Morgan: 1:113, no. 742, pi. 41.
motif known as the Hundred [or Myriad] Antiques (bai 1947 Christensen: 20.

preceding pages: Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722), Miniature Table, 1942.9.558

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