Vase with landscape and poem

Object Details

• Description

  Polychrome.

  Vase: club shaped with short neck and everted lip.

  Body: fine grained white porcelain.

  Glaze: transparent, glossy.

  Decoration: in colored enamels over glaze; a landscape scene, a poem of 28 characters, three simulated seals; mark of the Qianlong period in six seal characters in underglaze blue on base.

• Marks

  Mark of the Qianlong period in six seal characters in underglaze blue on base.

• Label

  The landscape scene with a poetic inscription that wraps around the vase resembles an unfurled literati handscroll painting; the verse mentions a figure gazing at the mist that floats over a 'glassy expanse of emerald water." More so than scroll painters, who often favored ink brushwork, artists painting on ceramics tended to emphasize coloristic effects. The calligraphy on this vase is written in standard script, distinct brushstrokes within each character; moreover, each word looks as if it were written inside an imaginary square grid. Most of the poems decorating imperial porcelains are executed in a more cursive style of calligraphy. Some scholars wonder, therefore, if this vase is an early twentieth-century copy of a porcelain from the Qianlong period.

• Provenance

  To 1938

  Tonying and Company, New York. [1]

  From 1938

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Tonying and Company, New York. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

  Chinese Ceramics: Glazed Ceramics of the Tenth through Thirteenth Century (March 9, 1987 to July 19, 1988)

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

  Chinese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to September 4, 1980)

  Bicentennial Exhibition: Chinese Art (December 5, 1975 to November 10, 1976)

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

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

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Ceramics, 1955 (September 19, 1955 to November 10, 1955)

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

  Untitled Exhibition, East Asian Ceramics and Paintings, East Corridor (January 8, 1947 to ---)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Art, 1946 (May 6, 1946 to November 17, 1955)

  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)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Tonying and Company 通運公司 (established 1902)

• Origin

  Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. 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

  1790s, 1730s

• Name

  Tonying and Company

• Place

  China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Yangcai, Ceramics, Standard script, Landscapes, Cobalt pigment, Porcelain, Inscriptions, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Enamel and enameling, Poetry, Jingdezhen ware, Qianlong reign (1736 - 1796)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)