179.
A PAIR OF ‘FAMILLE VERTE’ MUSTARD POTS
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, late 17th – early 18th century
…. cm each
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. …….
Made for export to Europe, this kind of pot was thought to contain mustard; they could have a lid with a hole to the top to hold a narrow spoon to take the sauce.
The earlier reference to Chinese mustard pots of this shape in VOC documents dates to 1635 (
T. Volker, Porcelain and the Dutch East India Company, as recorded in the Dagh-Register of Batavia Castle, those of Hirado and Deshima and other contemporary papers, 1601-1682, Leiden 1954, p. 37). The inventories presumably recorded ‘blue and white’ pieces similar to the one published by D. Howard – J. Ayers, China for the West. Chinese Porcelain and other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, 2 voll., London – New York 1978, I, n. 12.
