188.
A ‘FAMILLE VERTE’ DRAGON HANDLED CUP, GONG
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, late 17th – early 18th century
5 x 11 x 6,2 cm
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection, acquired before 1869.
inv. n. 3911.
The cup was exhibited in Paris in 1869, cited in the review published by Albert Jacquemart in that same year: “e sont aussi des coupes de sacrifices, l’une à trois pieds, les autres entourées de dragons à queue fourchue (collections Malinet, 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. 485).
It was also cited in the catalogue of the exhibition, described as “une petite coupe de sacrifice avec les quatre dragons en relief” (Exposition des Beaux-Arts 1869, p. 15).
Interestingly, a similar ewer was illustrated few years before by the same Jacquemart in the book written together with Edmond Le Blant (A. Jacquemart – E. Le Blant, Histoire Artistique, Industrielle et Commerciale de la Porcelaine, Paris 1862, pl. 5, fig. 2), published again in 1866 (A. Jacquemart, Les Merveilles de la céramique, ou l’art de façonner et décorer les vases en terre cuite, faïence, grés et porcelaine depuis les temps antiques jusq’à nos jours. Premiére partie Orient, Paris 1866, p. 96).
The archaistic shape of this container – of elongated section, with the handle flanked by two moulded chilong dragons, another smaller animal just below the wide spout – reflects the growing interest in antiquities that developed in China from the Song dynasty onwards, steadily elaborated over the following centuries, reaching a zenith in the eighteenth century.
Containers of this shape were carved in the late Ming dynasty in rhinoceros horn, a material appreciated not only for its rarity and its physical appearance but also because it was believed to have alleged medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. Rhinoceros horn libation cups were one of the most appreciated gifts that a scholar could receive for having passed an official examination.
The shape of this cup was widely used during the Kangxi period, also for bronze pieces (see as example the brushwasher in the Cernuschi Museum in Paris: M. Maucuer, Bronzes de la Chine impériale des Song aux Qing, Paris 2013, p118, n. 64).
A similar Famille Verte cup is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. C.1151-1910); the Philadeplhia Museum of Art own a group of similar libation cups, each with different painted details (inv. nn. 1955-50-142-149); see also the comparable pieces in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (inv. nn. 79.2.39 and 64.279.18) and the very similar pieces formerly in the collection of Augustus the Strong, now in the Porzellansammlung in Dresden (inv. nn. PO 6349-6353, 6355).
