Description:
Chinese export porcelain vase that was part of a garniture set, which is decorated in the Famille rose palette in red, pink, yellow, blue, green, orange, brown, and gilding. Two sides have a parrot chained to a perch, with its right claw clutching a cherry sprig, and a round water bowl attached to the horizontal bar; the perch is suspended from a large iron-red leafy melon shaped medallion; and there is a blue band around the rim and foot. Although never proven, this design is often attributed to Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) who worked as a designer for the Dutch East India Company from 1734 to the late 1730s; only four of his original designs preserved in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, are positively associated with his work, which ultimately became too expensive to produce. Both the colors and bottle shape are found in other Pronk work, such as the cherry sprays held in the parrot's claws, similar to 1740 Pronk dish illustrated by C.J.A. Jorg, "Pronk Porcelain", p. 80, pl. IX-X, #49-51. Since this subject is frequently found on Dutch delft of the period, it is probable that these pieces were ordered by or through the Dutch East India Company as a special commission. The Peabody-Essex Museum owns complete, but smaller, garniture (E83,943.1-.5), decorated in this pattern. 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.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+58.130 |
