212.
A ‘MILK AND BLOOD’ ROULEAU BALUSTER VASE
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
45 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3952.
This vase, with its flamboyant decoration of a powerful dragon flying amidst flames just above the waves of the sea, is a noteworthy example of a relatively rare family of porcelain produced during the last part of the Kangxi period and the early Yongzheng reign, characterized by the use of iron red enamel and gold (D. Suebsman, Melk en Bloed. Exquisite porcelain from the Middle Kingdom, exhibition catalogue, Norden 2018). Its dating to the early eighteenth century is confirmed by the presence of similarly decorated pieces in the collection of August the Strong (1670-1733), now in the Porzellansammlung in Dresden (E. Ströber, «La maladie de porcelaine». East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong, Leipzig 2001, pp. 82-83, n. 34). The Elector acquired pieces of this porcelain family also thanks to Count Lagnasco (1659-1735), one of his purchasers, who found them in 1716 during a shopping tour in Amsterdam.
This kind of porcelain is know with the Dutch definition of ‘Melk and Bloed‘, which could be literally translated as ‘Milk and Blood’. During the eighteenth century this term identified a specific type of imported Indian textile with a gold decoration on a light ground, while this type of porcelain was then usually described as ‘rood en goud‘ (“red and gold”), ‘rood en wit‘ (“red and white”) or ‘Chinees Japans‘ (“Chinese Japanese”), because of some analogies with Japanese Imari ware which is mainly decorated in red, gold and blue (however, a ‘Milk and Blood’ style of decoration is also known for Japanese Imari produced in the early eighteenth century: see The Voyage of Old-Imari Porcelains, exhibition catalogue, Arita 2000, pp. 54-56, nn. 81-85). The earliest use of the ‘Milk and Blood’ description for porcelain dates back only to 1845, when it appear in a Harleem newspaper.
The ‘Milk and Blood’ decoration was very popular mainly among those Chinese export porcelains destined to Holland. It was applied on objects of the same shapes of the more common ‘blue and white’ and ‘Famille Verte’ families. Probably, the trade of this special porcelain was managed by private merchants: Abraham van Thenen and the house Godefroy & Dolong are recorded as suppliers of ‘Milk and Blood’ porcelain in the early eighteenth century.
A vase with identical dimensions and a very similar decoration, clearly painted by the same artist in Jingdezhen, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 50.2622).
