191.

A ‘FAMILLE NOIRE’ ENAMELED BISCUIT BALUSTER VASE, YEN YEN
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
68,5 cm high
Da Ming Chenghua nianzhi six characters mark.
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection, acquired before 1869.
inv. n. 3705.

The vase can be identified with the one described as “1 Vase fond noir” acquired for 1716,20 Francs on 22 February 1869 from Deloris (receipt n. 55).
It was exhibited in Paris in 1869, cited by Albert Jacquemart in his review published in that same year: “Quant aux vases verts datés, ils sont fréquents, et nous nous contenterons de citer les plus remarquables: tels sont la magnifique lancelle fond noir décoré d’un prunier fleuri (M. de Martina)” (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); it is also described in the catalogue of that same event: “Une lancelle à fond émaillé noir, décoré de branches de prunier en fleur, daté de Tching-Hoa (1465 à 1484)” (Exposition des Beaux-Arts 1869, p. 15).

This kind of black glaze, created with the addition of iron oxide to a glaze with lead and then fired stimulating a further process of oxidation, was firstly experimented in Jingdezhen toward the mid fifteenth century. It was rediscovered during the Kangxi period, when the black layers alternated with green coats to realize pieces with a ‘Famille Verte’ decoration. Black enamelled biscuit pieces were in the collection of August the Strong (1670-1733), inventoried in 1721 (E. Ströber, «La maladie de porcelaine». East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong, Leipzig 2001, pp. 64-65, n. 25, about a bowl belonged to the Elector and now in the Porzellansammlung in Dresden). During the late nineteenth century, this kind of glaze was very appreciated in Europe and the United States, stimulating the production of numerous fakes (see L. Rosenfeld Pomper, Famille-Noire Porcelains. Tracing the Taste Through the 18th and 19th Centuries, in “Arts of Asia”, July-August 2013, pp. 115-125).

The Frick collection in New York has a collection of ‘Famille noire’ vases (J.A. Pope – M. Brunet, The Frick Collection. An Illustrated Catalogue. Volume VII – Porcelains. Oriental and French, New York 1974, pp. 106-145), some of them with similar shape and decoration (pp. 106-121), one with a six characters Chengua mark (pp. 116-117); see also the two comparable vases illustrated by Bondy (W. Bondy, Kang-hsi. Eine blüte-epoche der Chinesischen Porzellankunst, Munich 1923, p. 161), the similar piece in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. n. 1955-50-101), the comparable vase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York which has a Chenghua six characters mark (inv. 14.40.228) and the vase in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon also with a Chenghua mark (M.A. Pinto de Matos, Chinese Porcelain in the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon 2003, pp. 158-160, n. 42).

The rich and finely painted decoration on this monumental vase consists of plum trees, with twisted trunks and in full bloom. The plum (mei) is the first tree to bloom at the end of winter, thus heralding the imminent arrival of spring. It therefore takes on the meaning of rebirth and perseverance.