Bottle ID: 914

< Previous page

BALUSTER FORM, WITH KEY FRET PATTERN, IMITATING BRONZE

Date: 1760-1820

Height: mm

Stoneware, of flattened baluster form, the clay of two colors, brown and darker brown, the body stamped with regular rows of squared key fret pattern imitating an archaistic bronze, with a band of cash-diaper around the foot and finely modeled and gilded mask and ring handles on the shoulders below a wide band at the neck, gilded with ‘shou’ characters, the interior and base with a white slip in imitation of porcelain, the base with an illegible seal mark.

Attributed to Yixing.

Similar Examples:

Ford, John Gilmore. Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Edward Choate O'Dell Collection, 1990, pp. 68-69, no. 178.

Provenance:

Asian Art Studio
Sotheby’s, New York, April 1, 2005, lot 457
Avrina Pugh, no. 148
Hanzel Galleries, Chicago, October 31st, 1950, lot 78
The Getty Collection (by repute)

It is rare to find a 'Yixing' bottle emulating two different media. The form, decoration and gilding are clearly meant to recall archaistic bronzes, but the white slip dressing on the interior and foot are meant to disguise the stoneware as the more prosaic porcelain. The craftsman prized the bottle enough to place his seal on it, but that is now unfortunately difficult to read. The mock mask and ring handles are particularly animated and the ancient seal script characters also reinforce the archaistic theme.

< Back to full list