346.
A BLUE-GLAZED EWER
Qing dynasty, first half of the 18th century
30 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3367.
The shape of this ewer is clearly inspired by Middle Eastern metalwork, and also the choice of the dark blue ground reflects the will to satisfy the taste of those regions of Asia.
A very similar ewer, with a gilt floral decoration, is in the Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves in Lisbon (M.A. Pinto de Matos, A Casa das Porcelanas. Cerâmica Chinesa da Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves, Lisboa, Lisbon 1996, n. 136); a gilt decoration appears also on two similar examples in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (R. Kerr – L.E. Mengoni, Chinese Export Ceramics, London 2011, p. 111, n. 158); another comparable piece is in the Museum für Kunsthandwerk in Frankfurt am Main (G. Avitabile – S.G. von der Schulenburg, Chinesisches Porzellan, Frankfurt am Main 1992, n. 382); see also the related ewer in the Princesshof Museum, Leeuwarden (inv. NO 00677), the comparable piece in the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin (inv. OAS1952-27) and the similar ewer in the MAK Museum, Vienna (inv. OR 540).
