Accession Number
1982/1.220

Title
Vase

Artist(s)
Chinese

Artist Nationality
Chinese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1700-1722

Medium & Support
porcelain with glaze

Dimensions
9 5/8 in x 4 3/8 in (24.45 cm x 11.11 cm);10 7/8 in x 5 11/16 in x 5 15/16 in (27.6 cm x 14.5 cm x 15 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of the Estate of Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Subject matter
A porcelain powder blue vase of the Kangxi reign (1662-1722) of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). 
Powder blue, soufflé blue, snowflake blue or xue hua lan (雪花篮), sprinkled blue or sa lan (洒蓝), fish-roe blue (鱼子绿), and blown blue or chuiqing (吹青) are all terms used to describe a subset of famille verte porcelains that are covered with a cobalt blue ground comprising of many layered dots of various sizes, creating gradations in color. It was produced at Jingdezhen (景德镇), Jiangxi (江西), China for a very short time during the Kangxi (康熙) reign (1661- 1722) of the Qing (清) dynasty (1644-1912), primarily from about 1700-1722. It characterized by its rich, speckled cobalt underglaze surface covering the majority of porcelain vessel. Sometimes, reserves are masked off using paper as a resist, to keep some areas of the porcelain white. These areas may be decorated later with underglaze cobalt blue or underglaze copper red before glazing and firing, or possibly decorated with famille verte enamels and gilding after glazing and firing. The designs often featured scenes from classical literature, "five color blue" landscapes, birds and flowers, beautiful ladies, the "Hundred Antiquities", and auspicious objects and divine beings. The multiple firings and costly materials made powder blue wares extremely expensive to produce.

Physical Description
This porcelain gu (觚), or beakershaped vase with a tall flaring foot has a central globular section and tall flaring, trumpeted neck. It is covered in powder blue underglaze with two quatri-lobed reserves around the foot, two fan-shaped reserves placed around the body, and two tall rectangular ones around the neck. It has a white base with underglaze blue double circles, and is covered in a clear glaze. The reserves are painted with polychrome overglaze enamels to depict flowering plants. There is a paper label with "Chait Galleries New York" applied to base.  
This vase is part of a ten-piece garniture set which includes: jars 1982/1.206A, 1982/1.206B, 1982/1.206C, 1982/1.207A, 1982/1.207B, and 1982/1.207C; vases, 1982/1.208, 1982/1.215, 1982/1.216, 1982/1.220; plates, 1982/1.212, 1982/1.213, and bowls 1982/1.221,1982/1.22.

Primary Object Classification
Ceramic

Primary Object Type
vase

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
blue-and-white (ceramic glaze)
bottles
ceramic (material)
cobalt (mineral)
cobalt blue (pigment)
ewers (vessels)
flower (motif)
flower vases
flowers
jars
porcelain (visual works)
vase