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Source Description

A mountainous landscape is painted in underglaze cobalt blue on the squat globular body and tall cylindrical neck of the vase. Nestled in the rockery beside a river bank, on which figures are depicted fishing from their boats, are homes. Greenery abounds on the craggy rocks of the mountainside. Dividing the two scenes mid-height on the neck is a band of chevron patterns and tre-foil Ruyi heads, named for the curved head of the ruyi scepter that acts as a symbol for monastic authority in Chinese Buddhism. Landscape scenes became popular subjects on blue and white vessels especially in the Qing dynasty. The year 1683 during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722) marks the return of the Imperial production of porcelain and the reinstitution of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. A revival of imperial blue and white porcelain resulted in superbly crafted porcelains with well combined body, glaze, cobalt pigment, and skillful decoration. Refined blue cobalt allowed for adventurous and varied painting techniques, emulating watercolor on paper.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
28236
label
Bottle Vase
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
28236
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Bottle Vase
description
A mountainous landscape is painted in underglaze cobalt blue on the squat globular body and tall cylindrical neck of the vase. Nestled in the rockery beside a river bank, on which figures are depicted fishing from their boats, are homes. Greenery abounds on the craggy rocks of the mountainside. Dividing the two scenes mid-height on the neck is a band of chevron patterns and tre-foil Ruyi heads, named for the curved head of the ruyi scepter that acts as a symbol for monastic authority in Chinese Buddhism. Landscape scenes became popular subjects on blue and white vessels especially in the Qing dynasty. The year 1683 during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722) marks the return of the Imperial production of porcelain and the reinstitution of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. A revival of imperial blue and white porcelain resulted in superbly crafted porcelains with well combined body, glaze, cobalt pigment, and skillful decoration. Refined blue cobalt allowed for adventurous and varied painting techniques, emulating watercolor on paper.
provenance
William T. or Henry Walters Collection, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
date
1670-1690
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Ceramics
vases
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
H: 12 11/16 in. (32.3 cm)
Source extras
cul
Chinese
inscriptions
spurious reign mark of Jiajing (1521-1566)
dynasty
Qing Dynasty
reign
Kangxi (1662-1722)
med
porcelain with underglaze blue
creator_ids
6238
collection_ids
CHN
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
451df85fd684aad3