Gourd-Shaped Vase, late 17th/mid 18th century

Not on View

Medium

porcelain with pale blue glaze

Dimensions

overall: 13.9 x 6.1 cm (5 1/2 x 2 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.480

Artists / Makers

Chinese Qing Dynasty (artist)

Image Use

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Provenance

(Yamanaka & Co., sale, American Art Association, New York, 16-17 February 1915, no. 28). (Duveen Brothers, New York and London); sold 1915 to Peter A. B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

Associated Names

American Art Association
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown
Yamanaka & Co.

Technical Summary

Compared to 1942.9.479, this vase displays more distinct bands of darkened blue glaze color, particularly at the upper shoulder of the lower lobe of the gourd, and just above the foot. The glaze also ends at a somewhat higher point above the foot, exposing a rather uneven line of unglazed porcelain body.

Though this vessel and 1942.9.479 most likely are a pair, they are not completely identical. In comparing the treatment of the slightly recessed bases (covered with colorless glaze) and the unglazed, beveled foot-rings, it can be noted that 1942.9.479 is more carefully finished.

Bibliography

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 20.

1998: Bower, Virginia, Josephine Hadley Knapp, Stephen Little, and Robert Wilson Torchia. Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings; Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 90-92, color repro.