26.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ BOWL
Ming dynasty, Wanli period
7 x 14,3 cm
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 4036.
The bowl with wavy rim, decorated on the interior and exterior with birds (cranes, mandarin ducks and a sparrow on a rock) and lotus flowers; a double-gourd (huluping) mark to the centre of the base.
Mandarin ducks (yuanyang) are symbol of marital fidelity because it is believed they mate for life. They are often depicted with lotus (lianhua) to express a harmonious conjugal relationship. A symbolism reiforced by the homophony of the first character lian with another character meaning “long for, feel attached to”.
Similar bowls were found in the cargo of Witte Leuw which sank in 1613 (C.L. Van der Pijl-Ketel (edited by), The Ceramic Load of the ‘Witte Leeuw’, Amsterdam 1982, pp. 141-142).
A bowl with similar shape and a related decoration of ‘birds and flowers’, enriched by a light European gilt silver mount, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (J. Carswell, Blue and White. Chinese Porcelain and Its Impact on the Western World, exhibition catalogue, Chicago 1985, p. 116, n. 58); see also a related bowl in the Princesshof Museum, Leeuwarden (inv. NO 02485).
Similar bowls were in the collection of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), now in the Porzellansammlung in Dresden (see for example inv. n. PO 1758).
