Covered bowl

Object Details

• Description

  Covered bowl: low, with high domed cover, flattened round knob.

  Clay: white porcelain with some pitting and impurities, heavily potted.

  Glaze: clear, feldspathic porcelain glaze with some pitting and impurities. Base glazed, inside glazed except for a large triangular "miss" which contains a blackish discolored patch. Fitting edges of base and cover, as well as foot-rim, unglazed.

  Decoration: painted in underglaze cobalt blue of good quality in the so-called "aster pattern." Eleven panels each on bowl and cover, each containing an upright formal plant with leaves and one large flower. On cover, these arise from central lotus petals around knob which has a double row of petals. On bowl the panels spring from tips of lotus petals.

• Label

  The floral pattern that ornaments this covered bowl was a popular motif on export blue-and-white porcelain of the K'ang-hsi period (1662-1722). It is frequently encountered in Chinese porcelain salvaged from ships which wrecked in the early 17th century, some of them off the coast of Florida. In these instances, the cargo was shipped over the Pacific via Mexico and the West Indies to Europe.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  James McNeill Whistler (January 2, 1985 to June 23, 1986)

  James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art (May 11, 1984 to December 5, 1984)

  Untitled Exhibition, South Corridor (December 10, 1984 to July 10, 1986)

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

  A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980 (November 9, 1979 to May 22, 1980)

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

• 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.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1720s, 1660s

• Place

  China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen

• Topic

  Porcelain, Art, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Ceramics, Plants, Flowers, Jingdezhen ware, Lotus

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)