192.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ AND ‘FAMILLE JEUNE’ ENAMELED BISCUIT BALUSTER VASE
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
58 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection, acquired before 1869.
inv. n. 4210.
This vase was lentby the Duke of Martina to the Exposition des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l’industrie, which was held in Paris in 1869, described in the guide of the event as a “Grande lancelle de porcelaine blanche à décor bleu, avec médaillon réservés à sujets émaillés sur biscuit” (Exposition des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l’industrie. Guide du visiteur au Musée oriental, Paris 1869, p. 15).
It is also cited in the Jacquemart’s review of the event of that same year: “et la grande lancelle de M. le duc de Martina, dont le fond blanc, relevé d’ornements bleus sous couverte, entoure des médaillons à peinture polychrome appliquée directement sur le biscuit en émaux de grand feu.” (A. Jacquemart, Exposition de l’Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts appliqués a l’industrie. Musée oriental. I. Inde, in “Gazette des Beaux-arts”, 1869, 2, pp. 332-351, p. 488).
technique of painted enamels on biscuit, that is applying the coloured enamels directly on the porcelain surface without an intermediate layer of glaze and then firing at a lower temperature, was used by Chinese ceramists from at least the Tang dynasty, know as sancai (literally “three colours”). It was in the repertory of the kilns in Jingdezhen from the fourteenth century, but its production increased from the late Ming dynasty, reaching a peak of refinement during the Kangxi period.
Regarding the internal market, the ‘enamelled biscuit’ porcelain pieces were mainly small objects destined to the scholar’s desk. They begun to be exported to Europe in remarkable quantities already from the late seventeenth century, and its identification as a autonomous family is due to Albert Jacquemart and Edmond Le Blant (A. Jacquemart – E. Le Blant, Histoire Artistique, Industrielle et Commerciale de la Porcelaine, Paris 1862, p. 11), who however considered them as a minor group inside the larger ‘Famille Verte’ type.
If the use of ‘biscuit’ decorative technique is rather uncommon for large items such as this vase (see for example the vase with a landscape decoration from the Grandidier collection, now in the Musée des Arts asiatiques-Guimet in Paris: X. Besse, La Chine des porcelains, Paris 2004, n. 39), the combination of a floral decoration painted with the cobalt blue enamel and scenes with figures with the palette of ‘Famille Jeune’ is even rarer.
