Dish with hollyhocks and gardenias

Object Details

• Description

  Yongzhen (Yung Cheng) period, Polychrome --Guyuexuan (Ku Yueh Hsuan) type.

  Shallow bowl with carved ivory stand. Polychrome.

  White porcelain, decorated, in overglaze enamel colors, with flowers, calligraphy, and seals.

• Marks

  Four-character mark of the Yung Cheng period (1723-1735) in overglaze blue enamel, under the base.

• Label

  During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), emperors sometimes ordered court artists to decorate porcelains, a practice that intensified the aesthetic link between paintings and ceramics. The depiction of branches of cut flowers isolated from a garden environment is a conventional image for summer borrowed from handscroll paintings of the seasons. Chinese painters often inscribed their works with poetry. This dish also bears a poem, which begins: "On a beautiful day, the fragrant clusters display auspicious colors."

• Provenance

  To 1928

  Yamanaka & Co., New York. [1]

  From 1928

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yamanaka & Co., New York. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Beyond Paper: Chinese Calligraphy on Objects (August 18, 1994 to July 3, 1997)

  Chinese Ceramics (March 15, 1982 to July 10, 1986)

  Chinese Art (March 9, 1981 to March 12, 1982)

  Chinese Ceramics (May 9, 1980 to March 6, 1981)

  Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Ceramics (March 7, 1957 to January 1, 1963)

  Centennial Exhibition, Gallery 13 (November 10, 1955 to March 1, 1957)

  Special Exhibition, Chinese Art, 1946 (August 7, 1946 to January 7, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Ceramics and Paintings (November 14, 1944 to May 3, 1946)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Painting and Ceramics, 1943 (March 22, 1943 to November 13, 1944)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Painting and Ceramics (March 14, 1931 to March 22, 1943)

  Untitled Exhibition, Shahnama and Chinese Art (March 24, 1930 to May 5, 1933)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965)

• Origin

  Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Freer Gallery 13: Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1720s, 1730s

• Name

  Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen

• Topic

  Porcelain, Art, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Ceramics, Flowers, Guyuexuan ware

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes