Floor Vase

Datecirca 1700

Mediumporcelain, glazed with polychrome enamel decoration

DimensionsOverall: 30 3/8 × 8 5/8 × 8 5/8 in. (77.2 × 21.9 × 21.9 cm)

Credit LineReynolda Estate

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number2013.1.4

DescriptionLarge square floor vase with tall square neck rising from a prominent shoulder and flaring outward to rim, the whole decorated with flowers and rocks in polychrome translucent enamels. Each side of the vase is painted with a different scene of chrysanthemums and quince among rocks rendered in dark green, pale green, dark blue, iron red, aubergine (purple), and yellow. This palette of colors is called famille verte because of the predominance of green.

The translucent enamels are a hallmark of the Kangxi (or K'ang-hsi) era (1654-1722), just before Chinese potters learned to mix the enamels with a thick opaque white glaze that made the colors stand out from the surface. Kangxi (pronounced käng shē) was the second emperor of the Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty. Kangxi welcomed Jesuit missionaries to China and they, in turn, taught the potters to use white enamel.

ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]

Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.

Status

On view