Bowl with duck pond design and inscription

Object Details

• Description

  Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration of reeds and birds highlighted with polychrome enamels, Tibetan or Mongolian characters to inner border, exterior with band of underglaze blue dragons chasing the flaming pearls above a band of polychrome waterfowl among lotus.

  Six character reign mark on base.

• Marks

  Reign mark: cobalt oxide under glaze: six characters in three columns: DaQing Daoguang nianzhi.

• Inscriptions

  Stylized foreign inscription with Tibetan and Sanskrit elements on frieze around interior of bowl rim, in dark blue cobalt oxide, which as a translation of Tibetan into Chinese, reads: "May the days be auspicious; may the nights be auspicious. May the midday be filled with blessings. May day and night be filled with blessings. May the blessings of the Three Jewels be realized."

• Label

  In the fifteenth century the Chinese imperial kilns produced porcelain bowls decorated with ducks and inscribed in Tibetan. These inscriptions offered a promise of good fortune for Buddhist believers. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the imperial kilns resumed making bowls with this pattern, but the inscription had become corrupted and was no longer written in Tibetan script. As seen on this nineteenth-century bowl, the writing reproduces the Sanskrit alphabet, but with several mistakes. Some letters are invented forms that appear to be a misunderstanding of a special form of Tibetan ritual script. Most members of the Chinese court could not read Tibetan or Sanskrit, but they nevertheless assumed the writing to be an effective Buddhist invocation.

• Provenance

  ?-1959

  Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) and Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970), method of acquisition unknown [1]

  1959-1970

  Agnes E. Meyer inherited upon the death of her husband, Eugene Meyer [2]

  1970-1992

  Ruth Meyer Epstein (1921-2007), by descent from her mother, Agnes E. Meyer [3]

  From 1992

  The National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, bequeathed by Ruth Meyer Epstein in 1992 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See note 4.

  [2] Eugene Meyer died in Washington D.C. on July 17, 1959. Upon his death, his wife, Agnes E. Meyer inherited the entirety of the couple's collection.

  [3] The object was part of the Estate of Agnes E. Meyer. Her daughter, Ruth Meyer Epstein inherited the work upon her death.

  [4] See Ruth Meyer Epstein’s Deed of Gift, dated July 9, 1992, copy in object file. This work is part of the Museum’s Freer Gallery of Art Collection.

  Research updated on June 27, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer ((1875-1959) and (1887-1970))

  Mrs. Ruth Meyer Epstein (1921-2007)

• Origin

  Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Ruth Meyer Epstein

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1820s, 1850s

• Name

  Epstein, Ruth Meyer, Meyer, Eugene and Agnes E.

• Place

  China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen

• Topic

  Cobalt pigment, Porcelain, Art, Inscriptions, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Enamel and enameling, Ceramics, Jingdezhen ware, Lotus, Ducks, Dragon

• Culture

  Buddhists, Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)