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This white porcelain vase is almost egg-shaped, wider at the top and slightly tapered toward the bottom. The round opening at the top center has a low rim. The vase is decorated with circular, stylized flowers with almost geometric patterns made up of butter yellow, peach, ivory, pumpkin orange, and shades of blue. The blossoms seem randomly scattered so some cluster and overlap while others float alone.

Chinese Qing Dynasty

Vase, Qianlong period, 1736/1795

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G11-A

Medium

porcelain with overglaze famille rose enamels

Dimensions

overall: 17.2 x 15 cm (6 3/4 x 5 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

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

Accession Number

1972.43.50

Artists / Makers

Chinese Qing Dynasty (artist)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

As if tossed by a random breeze, more than one hundred stylized blossoms enliven the pure white porcelain of this finely potted vase. An underglaze seal script inscription on the base reads "made in the Qianlong reign of the great Qing dynasty." Porcelain—hard, translucent vitreous, high-fired ceramics that are the triumph of kiln technology—were first made in China. But the casual elegance of the decoration on this pot was meant to appeal to Japanese tastes. Ceramics with decoration like this began to be made in China for export to Japan in the eighteenth century.

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 seal script on the base in underglaze blue in three columns of two characters each: Da Qing Qianlong nian zhi (made in the Qianlong reign of the great Qing dynasty)

Provenance

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

Associated Names

Steele, Harry G., Mrs.
Steele, Harry Garfield
Yamanaka & Co.

Technical Summary

The vase is well potted and has a colorless glaze. The foot-ring is rounded, with a glazed and recessed base. There is a small hairline crack at the lip.

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: 225, color repro.