Page 60 - Mounted Oriental Porcelain Getty Museum
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FIG. yB. A detail of the underside of the lid. FIG. yc. A dove mark on the upper silver rim of the lid.
rare in Europe during the first quarter of the eighteenth the top of the lid is integral to the overall program of the
century, when Dutch cargoes of porcelain consisted bowl, but may not be original, having perhaps been
largely of Chinese blue-and-white, blanc-de-chine, and added in Paris when the bowl was assembled. The deco-
Japanese Imari. rative surprise on the underside of the lid may have been
intended to delight its owner when the top was raised.
The lidded bowl was once a long-necked vase that
was made for domestic use. The neck of the vase was The use of silver mounts on Chinese porcelain was
cut off and a second cut was made at the shoulder to unusual in the eighteenth century. They were generally
form the lid. Cut from the base of a dish or a bowl, a fitted for aesthetic reasons to Japanese Imari porcelains.
disk of porcelain was inserted to fill the hole left by the The bowl may have been mistaken for a Japanese vessel.
removal of the neck.1 The gilding of the Getty Museum's Regardless, elaborate gilt-bronze mounts would not per-
lidded bowl is worn and was originally more extensive. haps have been suitable for this shape.
The network of double lines that defines all the painted
forms was gilded.2 PUBLICATIONS
For reasons of economy and novelty Parisian dealer- "Acquisitions71987," GettyMus]16(1988),pp. 178-
decorators (marchands-merciers) adapted and reconfig- 79, no. 71; Bremer-David et al. 1993, p. 151, no. 251.
ured with metal mounts intact vessels and fragments
from other pieces, perhaps broken during shipping, into PROVENANCE
decorative objects. The long neck of this vase may have
been broken in transit. Given the inventive spirit of the Acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum from
marchands-merciers and the infancy of the study and J. Kugel, Paris, in 1987.
appreciation of Asian ceramics at the end of the sev-
enteenth century, no care or thought was given to the NOTES
rarity of a vessel, and some were cut even if they had i. A pair of vases (Sotheby's, Monaco, June 15, 1996,
not been broken. no. 125) displays the original form and decoration that
The central section of the lid is cut from the foot of was adapted to make the Museum's lidded bowl. The
necks of these vases have been slightly reduced in height.
a roughly contemporary Japanese Kutani-style dish or 2,. Much of this network of gilding remains on the com-
bowl from Arita.3 Kutani-style wares were abundant in parison vases mentioned in note i.
Europe at the end of the seventeenth century and were 3. I thank Oliver Impey for this information.
frequently adapted and mounted with pieces of other
wares. The cinnabar-red overglaze enamel painting on
LIDDED BOWL 47
