Page 280 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

show that residents of Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands, then ruled by Spain, used
large-size glass bottles to hold wine. These often appear standing in metal or ceramic
cooling tubs in paintings depicting scenes of fashionable daily life, as seen in Der
Maler mit seine Familie by the Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690),
dated 1645 (Fig. 3.4.1.2.8). Such bottles, used from the first through the third
911
quarter of the seventeenth century, served to move wine from casks (or olive jars) in
the cellar into pewter decanting jugs to be taken to the dining table. The porcelain
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bottles with Christian iconography, however, would have been probably ordered to
store the Holy oils or wine for use during religious services. The iconography, as Pinto
de Matos remarks, suggests that they could have been used during the Holy Week, and
specifically during the ceremony to bless the oils. It is unclear for which religious
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order these bottles were made.
Another porcelain shape that interests us here is that of two blue-and-white ewers
with covers in the British Museum and one other without cover in a private collection
in Brazil made in ordinary trade porcelain, which date to the late sixteenth or early
seventeenth century (Fig. 3.4.1.2.9). Their ornate shape is unusual. Harrison-Hall,
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Krahl and Pinto de Matos have all suggested that the shape might follow contemporary
Portuguese faience and that the figure handles bear resemblance to Indo-Portuguese
ivory figures of the crucified Christ and to figures that support carved wooden pulpits in
some churches of Goa. Their slender ovoid body with waisted flaring neck and foot
915
with raised bands, however, relates closely to those seen on Iberian ecclesiastical silver
or silver-gilt of the first half of the sixteenth century. Krahl also noted that handles in
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the form of figures with stretched arms, like those on these ewers, appear on Portuguese
silver. The handle of a silver-gilt jug probably made for secular use in c.1580 serves
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to illustrate her point (Fig. 3.4.1.2.10). By this time, English silversmiths were also
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incorporating this type of figure handle into mounts for porcelain, usually in the shape
of a mermaid with two entwined tails (Figs. 3.2.2.7 to 3.2.2.10). Interestingly, the
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Museum, museum no. 458–1907, could have also scrolls applied in relief at the base of the handle and spout of each porcelain ewer are
served as model for the porcelain bowls.
Fig. 3.4.1.2.7 Blue-and-white square-
892 Mentioned in Jin and Wu, 2007, p. 14. somewhat similar to those seen on the entwined tails of some English mounts. Visual
sectioned bottle 893 Lochschmidt, 2008, pls. 45-x and 45-y.
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province 894 bid., p. 101. The English Pewterers Company sources attest to the use of silver-gilt pieces with figure handles throughout Europe
I
Ming dynasty, Tianqi/Chongzhen reign produced wide rimmed platters and dishes from in the early seventeenth century. It is likely that the model of ewer sent to China
920
(1621–1644) as early as the 1530s, which formed part of a set
of tablewares for serving food to the table, and to be copied in porcelain was made of turned wood or tin-glazed earthenware rather
Height: 38.5cm
also served for ostentatious display on the table
British Museum, London than costly silver. The commission of such ewers may have offered some challenge to
and around the hall. Rosemary Weinstein, The
(museum no. OA 1963.5-20.7) Archaeology of Pewter Vessels in England 1200- the Jingdezhen potters, who had to use special moulds and instead of making a direct
1700: A Study of Form and Usage, unpublished PhD
Fig. 3.4.1.2.8 Der Maler mit seiner Familie (The Thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of copy of a European shape choose a spout that is characteristic of late Ming ewers. They
Artist and his Family) Durham, 2011, p. 75.
895 For images of these pewter dishes, see Roberts, also painted landscape borders and supporting motifs typical of Kraak porcelain in
Oil on canvas, 38cm x 58cm
2012, p. 5, fig. 3; and Weinstein, 2011, p. 76, fig. 14.
David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690), combination with a roundel motif of unknown origin.
896 t is likely that the pewter examples from the Padre
I
dated 1645 Island shipwrecks were the personal possessions It would appear that Iberian ecclesiastical silver, via wooden or tin-glazed
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / of crew and passengers rather than trade cargo. J.
bpk / Jörg P. Anders Barto Arnold and Robert S. Weddle, The Nautical earthenware models, also influenced the shape of four extant jars of small size
Archaeology of Padre Island: the Spanish shipwrecks made as special orders in ordinary trade porcelain with Christian iconography in
of 1554, New York, 1978. Pewter dishes of this shape
continued to be popular well into the seventeenth c.1610–1630. All four jars, two of square section and the others of six-lobed form,
Opposite page
century, as evidenced in finds from the Spanish
Fig. 3.4.1.2.9 Two Blue-and-white Armada shipwreck La Trinidad Valencera (1588), stand on a hollow conical foot and have cherub heads with curly hair applied in relief
ewers with lids and the Portuguese shipwreck Nossa Senhora dos and wings painted over pendant grape vines (Fig. 3.4.1.2.11). Although no exact
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Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province Mártires (1606). See, Flanagan, 1988, p. 124, no. 9.8;
Ming dynasty, Wanli/Tianqi reign (1573–1627) and Filipe Castro, Pewter plates from São Julião da model of the aforementioned jars is known, the winged cherub motif was commonly
Barra, a 17th century site at the mouth of the Tagus
Height: 30.5cm used in Iberian ecclesiastical silver and a variety of other materials throughout the
river, Portugal, unpublished report, College Station,
British Museum, London (museum no. OA F.154)
December 2000, cat. nos. 3 and 10–18; respectively. sixteenth century. The six-lobed jars have the relief winged cherubs alternating
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897 Published in Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall
Fig. 3.4.1.2.10 Silver-gilt jug (eds.), Ming. 50 years that changed China, exhibition with Chinese flower sprays and on those of square section they alternate with four
Portugal, c.1580 catalogue, The British Museum, London, 2014, p. 85, images representing the implements of Christ’s Passion, which reflect their symbolic
Private collection, Oporto fig. 67.
278 Trade in Chinese Porcelain 279