219.
AN ‘IMARI’ BOWL
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
… cm
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. …..
The circular foot rising to rounded walls, both the interior and the exterior of the wall painted in underglaze blue and overglaze red, green, yellow, black and gold with floral sprays, the centre with a tripod container with flowers and taihu rocks, the rim with a band of lozenges.
Chinese ceramists in Jingdezhen begun to produce porcelain with a decoration inspired by Japanese ‘Imari‘ towards the early eighteenth century, trying to reconquer that part of the European market which turned to Japan from about the mid seventeenth century.
Generally, Chinese ‘Imari‘ is less refined respect to its Japanese counterpart which is usually characterized by a wider use of gold. However, some Chinese pieces could show a certain quality, such as this bowl which is decorated with a lively floral composition, conducted not only with the more common underglaze blue and overglaze red and gold, but also with touches of green, yellow and black enamels.
