Amphora Vase, Kangxi period, 1662/1722

Not on View

Medium

porcelain with pale blue glaze

Dimensions

overall: 15.9 x 5.7 cm (6 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.494

Artists / Makers

Chinese Qing Dynasty (artist)

Image Use

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Inscription

in standard script on the base in underglaze blue in two vertical lines of three characters each: Da Qing Kangxi nian zhi (made in the Kangxi reign of the great Qing dynasty)

Provenance

Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; sold to Peter A. B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance of 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

Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Exhibition History

1907: Loan Exhibition of Rare Chinese Porcelains in Aid of Various Charities, Duveen Brothers, New York, 1907, no. 365.

Technical Summary

This vessel is quite even in color except for a small cloudlike form of slightly lighter colored glaze on the shoulder. A few pinholes are visible, but there are fewer dark spots than on the other vases of this type in the National Gallery collection. The reignmark in a medium blue is clearly visible under the colorless glaze applied to the base. The unglazed foot is smooth and slightly soiled.

Bibliography

1907: Loan Exhibition of Rare Chinese Porcelains in Aid of Various Charities. Exh. cat. Duveen Brothers, New York, 1907: no. 365 [page number given incorrectly as 202 in published NGA systematic catalogue; should be p. 203].

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

1947: Christensen, Erwin O. Chinese Porcelains of the Widener Collection. Washington, 1947 (rev. ed. 1956): 30; 1956, 30.

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: 77-80, color repro.