Nancheng bottle with bluish glaze

Object Details

• 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 1945

  J. E. Melchior (1879-1945), method of acquisition unknown [2]

  At least 1951-1952

  Mathias Komor, New York, method of acquisition unknown [3]

  From 1952

  Freer 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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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1200s

• Name

  Melchior, J. E., Komor, Mathias

• Place

  Fuzhou city, China, Jiangxi province

• Topic

  Porcelain, Art, Qingbai ware, Chinese Art, Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368), Ceramics, Lotus

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes