Description:
Chinese export porcelain oval barber's bowl or shaving bowl decorated with the 'Judgment of Paris' pattern in the Famille rose palette in iron-red, greens, pink, brown, black and gilding, and a gilt band with scrolls, shells, floral sprays and bugles around the rim. Ceramic shaving bowls display a fairly consistent form: usually an oval or circular shape with a deep bowl and wide rim, often with a round depression for a soap ball, and a curved indentation for a man's throat. Two holes often pierce the footrim to facilitate hanging with a string or wire, or tying around a client’s neck. Based on metal prototypes brought by western traders, the earliest mention of "barber's bowls" ordered from China is found in 1669; for much of the next century, a small but steady supply found its way to Europe, especially after the development of the Chinese Imari and Famille rose palettes. According to Christiaan Jörg’s research, barber’s bowls are not frequently encountered in Chinese export porcelain, and oval bowls are rarer than round ones. Throughout the 18th century, fashion dictated that men's faces be clean shaven, and shaving was done either at home or in a barber’s shop. Shaving was usually a two person job: A man held the basin in his hands with the indentation to his throat while the barber or family member mixed water and soap, ball to produce a lather. Mythological subjects, which were widely used as themes for decorating Chinese porcelains from about 1735 to 1760, were produced along with religious scenes and subjects from literary and artistic sources. Such subjects were often made to the special order of Europeans and shipped back as permitted 'Private Trade.' This scene, perhaps the most popular European design on Chinese porcelain during the 1740s, illustrates the 'fatal error' ("Iliad", Bk. XXIV) where Paris, son of King Priam, angers Hear (the Roman Juno) and Athena (Minerva) by choosing Aphrodite (Venus) as the most beautiful of the three and offering her the golden apple of Discord; each had bribed Paris, but Aphrodite promised him Helen of Troy, which gave rise to the Trojan War. This scene was probably copied from the c.1517-1520 engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi (c.1470-1527/34) after a c.1510-1520 drawing by Raphael (1483-1520), with whom Raimondi worked closely.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+55.013 |
