148.
EWERS (TWO)
PORCELAIN WITH RAISED DECORATION AND PAINTED IN
FAMILLE VERTE
ENAMELS
JINGDEZHEN KILNS, JIANGXI PROVINCE
QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD (1662–1722),
CA. 1700–1720
HEIGHT 22 CM; LENGTH 18.5 CM
INV. NOS. 652/1 AND 652/2
Two ewers in the shape of a mythological
animal standing on four legs with raised
head, protruding eyes, eyebrows and mane
accentuated by curls in relief, with open
mouth and visible teeth, between them a
small S-shaped spout. Their ears are laid back,
between them a single horn on the top of
the head, the
wang
character (sovereign) on
the forehead, and a stumpy, upright hollow
tail.
Each animal is richly decorated in
famille
verte
enamels: green, iron red, yellow and
aubergine with iron red spirals, probably
suggesting scales. The flames, which cover
the shoulders and hips, are modelled in relief
and painted with three
chilong
dragons, two
in shades of yellow and one in aubergine, and
a small
lingzhi
spray on a green ground
seeded with black. The scales on the chest
are suggested by bands modelled in relief
and by the colours.
It is not clear what animal is depicted
because they have some characteristics of a
lion, such as the body, head, paws, claws and
tail, but the horn on the head, the moulded
scales on the chest and the spiralling curls,
which might suggest scales, are closer to a
qilin
.
For some authors, such as Margaret Medley,
it is a
qilin
, since she considers that this
fabulous animal, sometimes called a unicorn,
can be ‘leonine with scales and horns, or an
elegant animal with cloven hoofs, with or
without scales, with a thick mane and tail,
and one or two horns’. 1
This particular shape of
qilin
(?) derives
directly from a bronze form produced
during the Ming dynasty between the
fifteenth and seventeenth centuries 2 for
the home market. There are also some
known pieces with removable heads in
Longquan
celadon
of the Ming dynasty, and
in blue-and-white porcelain from the Wanli
period (1573-1619). But the question of
when these vessels in the shape of
mythological animals with removable or
articulated heads first evolved remains
unanswered. 3 Although porcelain models
with different decorations were produced
during the Kangxi reign, the design of this
pair of
qilins
was inspired by the delicately
modelled designs of bronzes. 4
The few registered pieces made in porcelain
during the Kangxi period have removable
heads, while these examples are in one
piece.
The presence of two spouts: the hollow tail
that might have served for filling and for
draining liquids, and the actual spout, which
could have been used for pouring liquid,
suggests that they were possibly used as
ewers.
A similar piece is published in
Austellung
Chinesischer Kunst,
5 there is a green, yellow
and aubergine
qilin
in the Anthony de
Rothschild Collection 6 and another green-
glazed one in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 7
and pieces in
blanc de Chine
at Hampton
Court. 8
A pair of similar vessels belonged to the
Pierpont Morgan Collection and later became
part of the Corina Kavanagh Collection.
Gristina illustrates a similar pair of incense
burners
.
9
1 Medley, 1964, p. 91.
2 Gristina, 2003, p. 44, no. 18.
3 London, 1968, no. 232.
4 Krahl, 1996, Vol. II, pp. 406-07, no. 228.
5 Berlin, 1929, p. 334, fig. 906.
6 Krahl
,
ibid
.
7 Ayers, 1974, vol. IV, no. A 546.
8 Donnelly, 1969, p. 181, fig. 113A.
9 Gristina, ibid.
334 .
QING DYNASTY PORCELAIN (1644-1911)