Page 17 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)
P. 17
nuff, or powdered tobacco, was brought
to China by Jesuit missionaries in the late
seventeenth century or in the very beginning
of the eighteenth. Its use spread quickly, lead-
ing to a need for small containers to hold it.
in
They were produced large numbers and in
an astonishing variety of media-metal, jade,
ivory, bamboo, glass, lacquer, and porcelain
-during the Qing dynasty. Not all of them
were functional. Many were collected for their
exoticism, as the eighteenth century was a time
of fascination for foreign, especially Western,
taste. Others were treasured for their precious
materials or their exquisite craftsmanship.
These bottles are made of metal painted
in
with enamels, a technique popular Europe
during the eighteenth century. Both display
colorful palettes, including rosy pink first
a
introduced to China in the eighteenth century,
which was created by adding colloidal gold to
the enamel. The novelty of this color led to
development of the delicate Qing-dynasty
famille rose porcelains.
A westernized woman and child in a grape
arbor are depicted on one side of the smaller
popular at the court for ceremonial vessels and SnuffBottles bottle. Another woman, holding wineglass
a
other ritual paraphernalia, goods ...................................................................... and again accompanied by child, is on the
for domestic
a
(1736-95)
such as fishbowls, wash basins, and incense Qing dynasty, Qianlongperiod other. Both scenes illustrate the eighteenth-
burners, as well as for purely decorative items Painted enamel century Chinese attraction to Western tech-
of
like this charming pair parakeets. Hts. 21/8 in. (5.4 cm),2 5/16 (5.9 cm) niques such as shading and linear perspective.
Each bird sits on a perch placed on a round Bequest ofEdmund Converse, Scrolls and other patterns almost completely
C.
1921
base with a small seed pot on top of it. Both 21.175314a, b cover the rest of the body of the smaller bottle,
parakeets are decorated with delicate colors in Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness, except for roundels containing images of build-
1950
small cloisons. On the bases scrolling lotus 50.145.174a, b ings in rural settings on the sides. Multicolored
vines are represented in various hues against
a turquoise background.
By the sixteenth century Chinese cloisonne
techniques had expanded to include both com-
plicated cloison patterns for the background
and blended colors within a single enclosure.
While the density of the cloisons on the birds
reflects the more developed technique, the use
of one color within each enclosure may illus-
trate the revival of fifteenth-century taste
that was common in many media during the
eighteenth century. DPL
i6
