Page 192 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942.9-581-585 (C-434-438)
Garniture de cheminee

Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Porcelain with famillejaune enamels on the biscuit,
13
1942.9.581: (with lid) 30.0 (n /i6)
1942.9.582: (with lid) 30.5 (12)
3
1942.9.583:29.9 (n /4)
1942.9.584: 26.0 (ioV4)
1942.9.585: 26.0 (ioV4)
Widener Collection

TECHNICAL NOTES
Each vessel has a flat unglazed foot-ring and a base covered with
a thin pale green enamel. The interiors of the vases are covered
with a thin colorless glaze. Both 1942.9.584 and 1942.9.585 have
repaired and overpainted areas along the lip and interior.
PROVENANCE
1942.9.581 and 582: sold 1911 (Dreicer & Co., New York, agents of
Gorer, London); 1942.9.583: sold 1907 (Duveen Brothers, New
York and London); 1942.9.584 and 585: sold 1915 (Frank Partridge
and Sons, London); 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 GARNITURE CONSISTS OF THREE hexagonal covered
Tjars and a pair of hexagonal trumpet beaker vases in
1
the shape of archaic bronze zun vessels. As is clear from
their provenance, the vessels were not originally designed
as a group.
Each of the three covered jars is decorated with verti-
cal panels containing birds and flowering trees against a
yellow ground; the flowers include magnolia, plum, and
camellia. There are descending flower petals around the
shoulders and lids. The tops of the lids are surrounded
by floral scrolls on a green ground and are surmounted
by bud-shaped knobs.
The two ztm-shaped vases have rows of red chevrons
around the interior of the lips. The exteriors are painted
with panels of birds and flowering trees (again including
plum and magnolia) on yellow grounds. The waist on each
vessel is bordered by a band of overlapping descending
leaves at the top and chevrons at the bottom.
SL

NOTES
i. On the popularity of garniture sets for adorning mantelpieces
in eighteenth-century Europe, see the famille rose garniture,
1942.9.635-639. Garniture de cheminee is a French phrase that
means "ornament for the mantelpiece."

REFERENCES
1907 Duveen: no. 280 [1942.9.583].

1 7 6 D E C O R A T I V E A R T S