Page 252 - Chinese porcelains collected by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati, Ohio, by John Getz

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A CATALOGUE OF

No. 74

Tall Square Vase, Imperial yellow-glazed ground, with the so-called haw-
thorn blossoms and other symbolic flowering plcints, held in reserve.

A fine rectangular form is presented, tapering down from the shoulder, with a slightly

flaring cylindrical neck, like a chemist's mortar. The porcelain is of fine hard texture

and sustains a most resplendent floral embellishment, that, with changes in the ground-
color, give sumptuousness to its extraordinary decorative splendor.

Each of the four vertical panels carries a superb symbolic decoration of a flowering
plant, that indicates its season e.g., the fair peony (for spring) is represented in full
bloom, and large; several are colored in brilliant red, relieved by one in purple and another
in white, growing on strongly marked and knotted branches, glazed in neutral aubergine,
springing from amid open rocks and other herbage in varying shades of green, and all
carefully rendered, including some birds.

The second panel displays the radiant lotus (for summer) boldly drawn and penciled
in a strong red; the large and long stems are in green, and grow among different fems,

in shallow water, wath severed insects hovering above.

The symmetrical chrysanthemum (for autumn) fills the third panel, showing the flowers

carefully penciled in red, with here and there one picked out in purple glaze, growing
from the side, among rocks on ein elevation, and in strong outline against the yellow
body-color.

The delicate blossoms of the wild prunus (for winter) fill the fourth panel, showing

mciny of the flowers in red ; the branches are carefully picked out in aubergine glaze, with

darker hatching of the Scune tint, and rooted among rocks on the side of a precipice.
The rendering of the finely tapered stems and branches, bearing the blossoms in diminish-
ing sizes, is typical, and tends to give perspective value to the otherwise flat unshaded
coloring. This freely handled floral motive is animated by a few birds hovenng above the

fragrant blossoms.

The mortar-shaped neck is also invested with a yellow glaze and flowering plants
involving insects and butterflies, including two dark-green and yellow chevron-fretted

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