Rectangular Vase Illustrating Poems by Tao Qian and Su Shi

Kangxi period, 1662/1722

Chinese Qing Dynasty

Associated Names
Chinese Qing Dynasty

Artist

This is a vase with a rectangular center and a flared top and base. Each side of the vase is adorned with detailed artwork. One side prominently displays a scene of a river landscape, complete with green foliage, a flowing waterfall, and birds in flight against a yellow sky. A boat floats on the water, surrounded by trees and rocks. Another side of the square body of the vase includes a pale green panel filled with what appear to be Chinese characters. The top and base of the vase appear to have similar scenes of nature surrounded by geometric patterns in green and black. The edges of the vase are decorated with white borders.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    porcelain with famille jaune and famille noire enamels on the biscuit

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 35.6 x 14 x 14 cm (14 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1942.9.608

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(S. Bing, Paris).[1] J. Pierpont Morgan [1837-1913], New York; (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.
[1] Widener collection records (in NGA curatorial files) note that the vase was "formerly in the collection of Monsieur S. Bing, Paris." This information was not included in the provenance published in the NGA systematic catalogue entry (Little et al. 1998, 165-167).

Associated Names

Bibliography

1904

  • Morgan 1904-1911, 1:16, no. 11, pl. 62.

1942

  • Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 23.

1947

  • Christensen, Erwin O. Chinese Porcelains of the Widener Collection. Washington, 1947 (rev. ed. 1956): 10.

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: 165-167, color repro.

Inscriptions

in standard script on two sides in black enamel with the poems "Homecoming" by Tao Qian and "Second Ode to the Red Cliff" by Su Shi

Wikidata ID

Q62286072

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