29.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ PIERCED-OPENWORK CUP
Ming dynasty, Wanli period
9 cm diam.
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3788.
The bowl is decorated with five medallions painted with landscape scenes. These are reserved against a finely pierced ground in the form of wan (“ten-thousand”) diaper ground. The delicate openwork design was cut by hand when the clay was leather hard before firing, which required skill and precision. The main border is framed by a band of lotus petal panels above the foot and floral honeycomb band around the rim.
See a closely related pierced-openwork bowl, Wanli mark and of the period, in the British Museum, London (S. Pierson, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London 2004, p. 80, n. B618). A further related cup, Wanli mark and period, with the interior encased in a silver lining, is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice and Art of Tea, Taipei 2000, p. 100, n. 79; this cup also has an imperial palace label indicating it was used as a teacup during the Qing dynasty; the silver lining demonstrates how such openwork cups and bowls were used). See also the similar cup in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (J. Van Campen, Supplement to Chinese ceramics in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The Ming and Qing dynasties, in collaboration with C.J.A. Jörg, Amsterdam 1997, p. 13, n. 78: the author dates it to 1635-1650) and the related bowl in the Princesshof Museum, Leeuwarden (inv. NO 02491).
