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The sculpture is a vase featuring a rounded body with a long, narrow neck. The vase is primarily made of a white material, and it is adorned with intricate designs. These designs include several black oval and leaf-shaped panels on the vase's body and neck, decorated with vibrant colors such as green, blue, yellow, and white. One of these panels on the body of the vase features a depiction of a snarling blue-and-white dragon with a yellow-and-green face set against a black background. The other visible panels have floral designs in white, yellow, blue, and green. Between these panels, the white body of the vase also appears to have been carved with white swirling floral designs. There are some small spots of brown discoloration on these designs at the bottom of the vase.
Read the visual description

The sculpture is a vase featuring a rounded body with a long, narrow neck. The vase is primarily made of a white material, and it is adorned with intricate designs. These designs include several black oval and leaf-shaped panels on the vase's body and neck, decorated with vibrant colors such as green, blue, yellow, and white. One of these panels on the body of the vase features a depiction of a snarling blue-and-white dragon with a yellow-and-green face set against a black background. The other visible panels have floral designs in white, yellow, blue, and green. Between these panels, the white body of the vase also appears to have been carved with white swirling floral designs. There are some small spots of brown discoloration on these designs at the bottom of the vase.

National Gallery of Art · Decorative Art

Bottle Vase

Chinese Qing Dynasty

Date
Kangxi period, 1662/1722
Medium
porcelain with famille noire enamels and carved decoration
Dimensions
overall: 38.7 x 21 cm (15 1/4 x 8 1/4 in.)
Classification
Decorative Art · Ceramic
Accession number
1942.9.609
Credit line
Widener Collection
Time span
1651 to 1700
Department
CSD
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • carved
  • Chinese
  • Decorative Arts. Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings; Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets
  • Kangxi
  • famille noire enamels
Provenance

M. J. Perry, Providence, Rhode Island.[1] J. Pierpont Morgan [1837-1913], New York. (Duveen Brothers, New York); sold 1915 to Peter A. B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] Edith Standen's notes on the Widener collection (in NGA curatorial files). Probably Marsden J. Perry (1850-1935), Providence, Rhode Island, as he was a collector of Chinese porcelains, seven of which (instead of six as indicated in the NGA systematic catalogue) are currently in the NGA's collection.

Inscription

falsely inscribed in standard script on the base in underglaze blue in three columns of two characters each: Da Ming Xuande nian zhi (made in the Xuande reign of the great Ming dynasty)

NGA object ID 1787. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.