215.
A ‘MILK AND BLOOD’ EWER
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
26,5 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3715.
The splayed foot surmounted by a flattened globular body with the lower section with a band of moulded petals, a similar moulded frieze also on the shoulder and the neck, this last with a waist toward the mid section, loop handle and a long curved spout, the iron red and gold painted decoration consisting on the body of two large peach-shaped cartouches with stylized flowers inside and leaves all around, the neck with two bands of leaves framing the waist which is decorated with a floral scroll.
The shape of this ewer is inspired by Middle East metal prototypes, used in the porcelain kilns of Jingdezhen already from the Yuan dynasty, as a revival of Tang period silver containers with similar form, and then continuously in the Ming dynasty.
An analogous ewer is in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (R. Kerr – L.E. Mengoni, Chinese Export Ceramics, London 2011, p. 108, fig. 152); see also the similar pieces in the Topkapi Sarai Museum, one with a not pertinent cover (Krahl 1986, III, p. 935), another one with a gilt silver mount (R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, 3 voll., London 1986, III, p. 1192) and two others (R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, 3 voll., London 1986, III, pp. 1200-1201); compare also with the ewer with its original cover in the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin (inv. n. OAS1952-97a/b).
