Description:
Chinese export porcelain five-piece garniture (three vases and two beakers) decorated with the Mandarin design in reds, purple, brown, blue, pink, green, black, white, and gilding on a raised dot-molded or stippled turquoise ground often called "chicken skin" or "goose flesh." Garnitures (sets of vases and beakers) originally served as Buddhist altar ornaments in China. These decorative ceramics were seen by European merchants who subsequently exported each type of vase and beaker in large quantities; local china merchants then matched the number in the garniture to the orders they received. Sets of covered vases and flared beakers were normally in groups of three, five, or seven pieces, and were often displayed in an alternating pattern on the tops of cupboards, bookcases, and mantelpieces in 17th and 18th century interiors. Popularized by the Dutch designer Daniel Marot (1661-1752) and avidly collected in Holland, these ceramics appeared in furnishing schemes of English rooms; and the Dutch settlers in New York continued the tradition of using ceramics as decorative ornaments in America. In 1744, physician Alexander Hamilton noted that “they set out their cabinets and buffets much with china…and hang earthen or delft plates and dishes all round the wall.” Each piece has four brightly-painted shaped panels with Chinese figures in various activities in gardens or pavillions, with one figure in the smaller panels and multiple figures in the larger panels; and enamelled and gilt relief-molded flower heads and scrolls scattered over the turquoise ground between the panels. These color combinations may seem jarring, but paint analysis of late 18th century interiors such as George Washington's Mount Vernon has shown that brilliant colors were the fashion, and would have been more visible in the low light levels of most houses at that time.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+65.225.2 |
