"Beehive" Water Pot, late 19th century

Not on View

Medium

porcelain with yellow glaze

Dimensions

overall: 7.9 x 12.7 cm (3 1/8 x 5 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.502

Artists / Makers

Chinese Qing Dynasty (artist)

Image Use

This image is unavailable for download.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .
Contact us about image usage .

Inscription

falsely inscribed in standard script on the base in three vertical columns of two 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 1913 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

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

Technical Summary

The fine-textured porcelain vessel has a translucent yellow glaze with very faint, fine crazing over all exterior surfaces and the neck interior. The calligraphy on the base appears darker than the usual blue, possibly the result of the yellow glaze covering blue. 1

1. A similar pot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (14.40.375), and the Widener piece have the same inscription, in what appears to be the same color, described as black in the Metropolitan's records.

Bibliography

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): 30-34, repro. 36; 1956: 34, repro. 36.

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: 134-135, color repro.