Palace Jar

Datecirca 1900

Mediumporcelain

DimensionsOverall (approximate): 53 x 20 in. (134.6 x 50.8 cm)

Credit LineReynolda Estate

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number1922.2.100ab

DescriptionThe surface of the tall baluster form of this Chinese porcelain jar is decorated completely with a complicated pattern of exotic birds and tree peonies rendered in over-glaze polychrome enamels, including green, yellow, pink, and red with under-glaze blue branches. A deep band of blue lambrequins defines the bottom of the decoration, while a frieze of arches enclosing lotus blossoms defines the shoulder below a band of circles enclosing stylized blooms. The neck of the jar is a wide band of stylized flowers in pots contained in pointed arches. A diamond diaper border finishes the top rim.

The jar’s domed cover is finished with the figure of a large foo dog that has been gilded. The wide flange of the cover is decorated with polychrome enamel peonies and chrysanthemums on a decorative turquoise ground interrupted by four vignettes containing shellfish (crab, oyster, prawn). The decoration of the cover’s dome repeats the arches and lotus blossoms seen near the top of the base.

Large decorative covered jars such as this one are referred to in the ceramics trade as “palace jars” to suggest their function as decoration in large interior spaces. This large jar was made in China for export and use as a decorative object.
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

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