348.
TEA CANISTER
PORCELAIN DECORATED IN
FAMILLE ROSE
ENAMELS,
EN GRISAILLE
AND GOLD
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736–1795), CA. 1740
HEIGHT 15.6 CM; LENGTH 12.5 CM; WIDTH 6.3 CM
INV. NO. 757
Rectangular tea canister with flat shoulders,
a cylindrical neck, which was broken and later
replaced with metal, and four carved feet
aligned around the four corners.
Manufactured in white porcelain, and
covered with a colourless glaze. Decorated
with two indoor scenes and a landscape
painted in
famille rose
enamels,
en grisaille
and gold.
One side shows a European man with long
red hair wearing a tricorn hat, a greenish
coat, pink knee breeches, blue stockings and
black shoes. He is smoking a long pipe and
leaning against a table on which is visible a
blue bottle and a glass. He is watching his
assistant, who is also European, dressed in a
yellow coat and leaning on a cane next to
two barrels, as he negotiates with a Chinese
merchant in a long gown and a red and black
hat. This conversation is followed attentively
by a boy making tea, and watched by another
Chinese merchant sitting next to a pair of
scales, through a window in the top right-
hand corner. On the other side the two
Europeans and the Chinese man are sitting
at a table, with a blue punch bowl and a
bottle, drinking a cup of punch, while a
servant is holding a pipe and another one
brings a tray with covered bowls.
The sides are decorated with landscapes, one
with a Chinese man sitting next to a tall tree
with a gnarled trunk, and the other with a
Chinese man walking past a bridge. On the
shoulder is a foliate scroll
en grisaille
and
gold. The feet are red and gold.
This tea canister was from one of the three
known tea sets painted with scenes of
European merchants in shops in Canton, of
which very few pieces remain.
Apart from the scenes on this canister, there
are export porcelains decorated with scenes
of European and Chinese merchants in a
store room helping to pack the tea 1 and in a
general store with porcelain, tea chests, bales
of silk and other merchandise. 2
For some authors the shape of this canister,
the yellow jacket of one of the merchants
and the short red and gold scalloped feet
indicate that this is one of the first examples
of European merchants painted in
famille
rose
enamels in a significant and realistic
situation. 3
This rare shaped tea canister seems to be
unique in terms of decoration.
Provenance:
The F. W. J. Scovil Collection
The François Hervouët Collection
The Khalil Rizk Collection
Exhibitions:
A Tale of Three Cities: Canton, Shanghai and Hong
Kong. Three Centuries of Sino-British Trade in the
Decorative Arts
, London, 1997.
International Asian Art Fair, New York, 2002.
Published in:
Hervouët and Bruneau, 1986, p. 31, no. 135 a, b
Howard, 1997, p. 49, no. 44
1 Hervouët and Bruneau, 1986, p. 32, no. 1.37.
2 Idem, ibid., p. 30, nos. 1.33-1.34; Beurdeley, 1982,
p. 153, no. 1; Jörg, 1982, p. 133, figs. 53 and 54;
Lunsingh Scheurleer, 1974, nos. 5 and 7; Jörg, 1997,
p. 288, no. 288, no. 336 a and b; Howard and Ayers,
1978, p. 213, no. 211.
3 Howard, 1997, p. 49, no. 44.
274 .
CHINESE PORCELAIN WITH WESTERN DECORATION