84.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ TRIPLE GOURD VASE
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
38 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3520.
The decoration on this vase – with the upper section of the neck missing – is clearly inspired by archaic stylized motifs used during the Shang and Zhou dynasties especially on bronze items. However, the motif of the taotie mask, which appears a number of times on this vase, is treated in a more naturalistic style, loosing therefore the strength reserved to ancient ritual objects.
The use of triple gourd shape was very popular during the Kangxi period, especially for that porcelain explicitly destined to Europe. Similar vases, with their extravagant form, were very appreciated as decorative objects for royal palaces, often displayed in the Porcelain Cabinets, those rooms furnished with hundreds pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain according to a taste which spread all over Europe from the mid seventeenth century.
Vases with this type of archaistic decoration belonged to the collection of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), now in the Porzellansammlung in Dresden (inv. PO 2452).
A pair of similar vases was in the collection of Richard Bennet (E. Gorer, Catalogue of the Collection of Old Chinese Porcelains, Formed by Richard Bennett, Esq., Thornby Hall, Northampton. Purchased and Exhibited by Gorer, London 1911, p. 5, n. 16); see also the comparable pair formerly in the Holt collection (R.L. Hobson – B. Rackham – W. King, Chinese Ceramics in Private Collections, London 1931, p. 145, fig. 256); another similar pair was in the Gow Collection (R. L. Hobson, Catalogue of the Leonard Gow Collection of Chinese Porcelain, London 1931, p. 16, n. 52, colour plate XV); compare also to a related vase in the Shanghai Museum (W. Qingzheng (edited by), Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong 1998, p. 90, n. 58).
