A blue glass dish filled with fruit

Object Details

• Description

  A blue-glass dish filled with fruit, including pomegranate, pomello, Asian pear, water caltrop, and grapes.

  With six spurious seals, purportedly belonging to Emperor Song Huizong and to Ming collector, Xiang Yuanpian.

  On silk in an album.

• Marks

  (D.K. Liu, 1914) Artist unknown. Small seal in right upper corner reads: "Shen-ping." Seal in right lower corner reads: "Hsuan-ho." They are both seals of the Emperor Hui-tsung of Sung Dynasty. Seal in left upper reads: "Hsiang Yuan-pien." Seal in left lower corner reads: "Preserved by Mu-lin." These two belong to the great Ming collector and painter, Hsiang Yuan-pien. Gourd-shaped seal at top reads: "Imperial handwriting." It has no meaning and does not look like a good seal. Large square seal near right upper corner is the prince's seal which appears on every painting in this album. It reads: "Preserved with care in the Ch'en-fu." Ch'en-fu is the name of the residence of a prince, perhaps of the Manchu dynasty.

  (D.K. Liu, 1914) Artist unknown. Small seal in right upper corner reads: "Shen-ping." Seal in right lower corner reads: "Hsuan-ho." They are both seals of the Emperor Hui-tsung of Sung Dynasty. Seal in left upper reads: "Hsiang Yuan-pien." Seal in left lower corner reads: "Preserved by Mu-lin." These two belong to the great Ming collector and painter, Hsiang Yuan-pien. Gourd-shaped seal at top reads: "Imperial handwriting." It has no meaning and does not look like a good seal. Large square seal near right upper corner is the prince's seal which appears on every painting in this album. It reads: "Preserved with care in the Ch'en-fu." Ch'en-fu is the name of the residence of a prince, perhaps of the Manchu dynasty.

• Provenance

  To 1909

  Loon Gu Sai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]

  From 1909 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Loon Gu Sai, Beijing in 1909 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Album List, pg. 30, S.I. 8, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), Loon Gu Sai was possibly Lunguzhai, a store in the antiques district of Liulichang.

  This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Loon Gu Sai (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

  This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1910s, 1640s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Sai, Loon Gu

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Pear, Fruit, Chinese Art, Glassware, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Grape, Pomegranate

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings, Still lifes