Stem Bowl, Xuande period, 1426/1435

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 25

Medium

porcelain with underglaze blue decoration

Dimensions

overall: 8.3 x 15.6 cm (3 1/4 x 6 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Harry G. Steele Collection, Gift of Grace C. Steele

Accession Number

1972.43.5

Artists / Makers

Chinese Ming Dynasty (artist)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

This Ming dynasty stem bowl—a shape used in Buddhist ritual—exemplifies the finest blue-and-white porcelains of the early fifteenth century. The design is painted in underglaze cobalt blue. Leafy tendrils of a lotus scroll enframe eight blossoms, each topped with one of Buddhism's Eight Auspicious Emblems: a pair of fish, a lotus flower, a canopy, a parasol, a conch shell, the wheel of dharma, an endless knot, and a vase. These symbolize freedom, purity, righteousness, respect, the Buddha's voice, Buddhist law, compassion, and truth.

More information on this object can be found in the Gallery publication Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/decorative-arts-part-ii.pdf

Inscription

in standard script on the interior in underglaze blue in one column of six characters: Da Ming Quande nian zhi (made in the Xuande reign of the great Ming dynasty)

Provenance

(C.T. Loo, New York); sold June 1941 to Harry G. Steele [1881-1942], Pasadena; his widow, Grace C. Steele [d. 1974]; gift 1972 to NGA.

Associated Names

Loo, C.T.
Steele, Harry G., Mrs.
Steele, Harry Garfield

Technical Summary

The stem bowl is finely thrown from a smooth paste. The foot is hollow and glazed on the interior. The foot-ring is carefully beveled. Minute scratches are visible on the interior glaze surface. The underglaze cobalt oxide pigment has a smudged appearance due to slight overfiring in the kiln.

Bibliography

1998: Bower, Virginia, Josephine Hadley Knapp, Stephen Little, and Robert Wilson Torchia. Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings; Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 36-37, color repro.

2000: National Gallery of Art Special Issue. Connaissance des Arts. Paris, 2000:62.