Page 194 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942.9-616 (C-46/)

Square Vase

Qing dynasty, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722)
Porcelain with famille noire enamels on the biscuit,
49.2 x 14.6 (19% x 5%)
Widener Collection

INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed in standard script in the recessed square on the base and light green. Just below the lip is a green band cross-
in underglaze blue in two columns of three characters each: Da hatched with dark lines. Rocks, peonies or roses, morn-
Qing Kangxi nian zhi [made in the Qing reign of the great ing glories, and other plants against a yellow ground (in
Kangxi dynasty] the famille jaune palette) decorate the neck. Floral sprays
adorn the shoulder at the four corners and stand out
TECHNICAL NOTES against a black ground. The tall side panels are delineat-
As with the majority of square vases, the body has been molded ed by thin white bands and painted in the famille noire
together, the neck then wheel thrown and luted onto the shoul-
der. The low, wide square foot-ring is beveled and has a glazed palette. The seasons are illustrated in succession around
square recess at the center. A fabric impression remains on the the vase. The late winter panel is decorated appropriate-
otherwise unglazed foot. The ceramic body is white, except where ly with blossoming plum and rocks with narcissus; the
it has burned orange at the foot-ring. There is one vertical hair- other panels illustrate a lotus pond, a blossoming peach
line crack in the neck. A crack in the foot has been repaired. tree and rocks, and chrysanthemums.
A similar example is in the Musee Guimet, Paris. 2
PROVENANCE Although it has the same proportions as the National
(Frank Partridge and Sons, London); sold 1915 to Peter A. B. Gallery vase, it does not have the area of famille jaune
Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheri- painting on the neck, and it has different designs on the
tance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power side panels. In a similarly recessed area on its base is a
of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
four-character underglaze blue mark in standard script
reading Biyutang zhi [made for the Hall of Blue-green
HIS TALL VASE EXEMPLIFIES the highest level of Kangxi 3
Tfamille noire painting in its carefully structured com- Jade]. The calligraphy of this mark is in the same hand
Gallery vase.
as the Kangxi mark on the National
positions and dramatic harmonies of enamel colors. The SL
overall proportions are characteristic of the mature
Kangxi period (c. 1690-1720) and can also be seen on
reign-marked Kangxi examples in blue-and-white porce-
1
lain. The exterior is covered with enamels painted on the NOTES
biscuit, while the interior, with the exception of the neck, 1. Marchant 1984, pi. i.
is unglazed. 2. Auboyer 1975, 0.1710.
The enamel colors are black, white, yellow, and dark 3. Auboyer 1975, 275.

foot-ring and reignmark
on base of 1942.9.616

178 D E C O R A T I V E A R T S