Vase

Object Details

• Description

  Vase: ovoid, low spreading foot, narrow neck with flaring lip. Polychrome.

  Clay: fine-grained, hard, pure white.

  Glaze: high-fired, very pale cafe au lait.

  Decoration: yangcai decoration, with elaborate ornamental bands and all-over floral patterns in "famille rose" enamels, gold, and iron red over the glaze.

  Six character mark of the Qianlong period in gold seal characters under the base.

• Marks

  1. (From original folder sheet note 2) (H.C. Lovell, 1975) The ovoid vase has a tall neck with an everted mouth, and a splayed foot. The decoration consists of a stylized lotus design with foliage and tendrils, disposed over the entire surface of the vase, ju-i lappets around the shoulder and the foot, and criss-cross and pendent bead work on the neck. The design is rendered in an array of colored enamels including green, blue, yellow, red, pink and white, as well as gold, over the cafe-au-lait glaze. A six-character mark reading Ta Ch'ing Ch'ien-lung nien-chih is written in gold over the glaze.

• Provenance

  To 1945

  Tonying and Company, Inc., New York to 1945

  From 1945

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Tonying and Company, Inc., New York in 1945 [1]

  Notes:

  [1] Undated folder sheet note. For additional information, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

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

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

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

• 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

• 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

  1790s, 1730s

• Name

  Tonying and Company

• Place

  China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen

• Topic

  Porcelain, Art, Chinese Art, Yangcai, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Ceramics, Flowers, Jingdezhen ware, Lotus, Qianlong reign (1736 - 1796)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes