Nancheng bottle with bluish glaze
![Detail of a pattern](https://asia.si.edu/wp-content/themes/custom/nmaa/nmaa-frontend/public/images/hero-bkgrnd-desktop.jpg)
Terms of Use
Usage Conditions ApplyAt A Glance
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Period
13th century -
Geography
Fuzhou city, Jiangxi province, China -
Material
Porcelain with transparent pale-bluish (qingbai-type) glaze -
Dimension
H x W: 20.2 x 12.7 cm (7 15/16 x 5 in) -
Accession Number
F1952.22 -
EDAN ID
edanmdm:fsg_F1952.22
Object Details
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Description
Vase: with broad rounded shoulder and cylindrical neck.Clay: coarse grained white porcelain with earth adhesions.Glaze: transparent with faint bluish tone and fine crackle.Decoration: in relief under glaze, molded lotus pattern below a row of stamped patterns on shoulder, horizontal fluting on body. -
Provenance
?-?Reportedly excavated in Jingdezhen, China [1]?-no later than 1945J. E. Melchior (1879-1945), method of acquisition unknown [2]At least 1951-1952Mathias Komor, New York, method of acquisition unknown [3]From 1952Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Mathias Komor, New York [4]Notes:[1] See H. W. Siegel and Helen D. Ling, “Ying Ching Porcelains of the Tang and Sung Dynasties: Collection of the Late J. E. Melchior” [catalog] (Published as manuscript by H. W. Siegel and Helen D. Ling, 1945), cat. 50, p. 21. On page 2 the authors noted “Almost all the Ying Ching pieces in the Melchior collection came from the same district. They are said to have been excavated from tombs at Lung-hu-shan in the neighborhood of the modern Ching-te-chen, Kiangsi [Jingdezhen, Jiangxi].”Jacob Emil Melchior, also known as J. E. Melchior, was a Danish businessman and collector of Chinese ceramics. He relocated to Shanghai for work about 1904, and by 1934 his collection held more than a thousand objects. When he began collecting, Melchior pursued examples of Ming porcelain, then expanded his collection to include examples from the Tang, Song, Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han Dynasties. After Melchior’s death, E. T. Chow, Helen D. Ling, and Hans W. Seigel each purchased part of his collection.[2] See note 1.[3] See object file for shipment statement from Mathias Komor, dated May 17, 1951, showing that object no. N241 was sent to the Freer for examination from Komor’s, New York gallery. Mathias Komor was a Hungarian American dealer of Asian art and antiquities. He was a founding member of the Asia Society and a leading authority on Chinese antiquities, and he served as a consultant to several U. S. museums. Komor had a gallery on Madison Avenue in New York from 1941 until his retirement in 1983.[4] See object file for copy of Mathias Komor invoice to the Freer Gallery of Art, dated July 8, 1952, and approved by Acting Secretary J. E. Graf on February 14, 1952. Item N.241 is described as a “Very thinly potted vase, white body, covered with minutely crackled blue glaze.”Research updated August 21, 2023 -
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection -
Exhibition History
The Peacock Room Comes to America [2022] (September 3, 2022 - ongoing)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) -
Previous custodian or owner
Jacob E. Melchior (1879-1945)Mathias Komor (1909-1984) -
Origin
Fuzhou city, Jiangxi province, China -
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment -
Type
Vessel -
On View
Freer Gallery 12: The Peacock Room Comes to America -
Restrictions and Rights
Usage Conditions Apply
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