353.
A ‘GE TYPE’ CRACKLED-GLAZED AND GILT BISCUIT BALUSTER VASE
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
20 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 4528.
Supported by a splayed circular foot, the globular body raising to a slightly waisted neck surmounted by a wide mouth, two moulded animal head’s handles suspending loose rings, the lower zone of the foot, the shoulder and the rim of the mouth with brown biscuit bands of moulded ruyi heads, the remaining surface overall covered with a greyish-cream crackled glaze.
Ge ceramic, one of the Five Great Kilns of the Song dynasty, remained a widespread source of inspiration also in the Ming e Qing dynasties, especially during the eighteenth century when a revival for all the traditional glazes was promoted.
The experiments in Jingdezhen to produce porcelain with a glaze which could resembles the Ge type started already during the Yongzheng period. The superintendent Tang Ying wrote about it in his “Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production” (Taocheng jishi bei ji) compiled in 1735, specifying that ancient models were sent to Jingdezhen from the imperial palace in Beijing (P.Y.K. Lam, Shimmering Colours. Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods. The Zhuyuetang Collection, Hong Kong 2005, pp. 42-44). This production increased during the reign of Qianlong, who was a connoisseur and collector of ancient vessels and a convinced supporter of the recovery of the classical style in every field of the arts.
A comparable vase is illustrated by Albert Jacquemart and Edmond Le Blant (1862, pl. XIV (“Fabrications exceptionalles”), fig. 3); see also the very similar item is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (C.J.A. Jörg, in collaboration with J. Van Campen, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The Ming and Qing Dynasties, London 1997, p. 236, n. 269).
