Page 158 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

A CATALOGUE OF

No. 43

Grand Jar ("rouge d'or"), of fine oviform contour and brilliant-white

porcelain.

Decorated in half-toned enamel colors typical of the "famille rose" palette, and sus-
teiining a beautiful shade of rose souffle, interrupted by various panels in white reserve,
including two large pictorial scrolls that alternate with two leaf-shaped panels having
pointed foliations; the first panel depicts a large tenace occupied by a lady, in court

attire, who is seated holding a fan, accompanied by several children. One of the boys

is cimusing himself with a large fish-bowl on a stand, while cinother boy is talking to a
parrot. The terrace also holds a jardiniere with a lotus plant ; a palm, and a cherry
tree with blossoms, are shown beyond the railing.

The reverse panel is similar, and contcdns also a garden and terrace subject with

figures.

Another smaller panel represents the fonii of a citrus fruit, or "hand of Buddha,"
on which a retired mandarin (T'ao-ming^) is depicted, among flowers, in complete
emancipation from care. Epicureeinism is also suggested by an attendant boy offering a

duck.

Other silhouetted pcmels show two worthies, or sages, with wine-pots : members of
a famous coterie of learned men in the third century A.D., according to Thornton ("His-
tory of China"). They, among other things, pretended that human happiness consisted
in complete freedom from all cares and in unrestrained indulgence in wane, and disre-
garded all ceremonies and laws.

Other leaf-shaped medallions contain landscape, bird, and floral subjects minutely

'T^ao-ming, great-grandson of a famous Chinese A.D. 420, he adopted the name of "Sage of
statesman named T'ao-k'an, was noted no less as
a scholar and poet than for his devotion to the the Five WiOows," in allusion to the trees which

wine-cup. He received an appointment as mag- he had planted near his house, and ended his

istrate, but eighty days afterward chose to resign days drinking, playing upon the lute, and making
his seals in preference to "bending the back" on
verses amid the chrysanthemums that embellished
the arrival of a superior functionary, for the sake
of five measures of rice. Retiring into private life Hethe garden of his retreat. died at the age of

62, A.D. 427. (Mayer's Manual.)

1561