15.
A PAIR OF ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ BOTTLE VASES
Ming dynasty, Wanli period
28,7 cm and 29,8 cm high
Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. nn. 3343, 3352.
The body of each vase is painted with pomegranate-shaped panels, utilising the formed cartouches to enclose scenes of birds and insects alternating with various diaper grounds with leaves. The necks are decorated with auspicious objects below bands of ruyi-heads, with further flower-heads and ruyi reserved against diaper grounds around the shoulders.
The pomegranate (shiliu) in Chinese culture as in many other traditional cultures has come to symbolise the wish for fertility, many offspring and continuity of the family due to the many seeds.
A number of closely related ‘blue and white’ bottle vases, late 16th/ early 17th century, are illustrated by Regina Krahl (R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, 3 voll., London 1986, nn. 1387-1398).
