Description:
One of a pair of Chinese export porcelain miniature baluster-shaped vases in brown with white reserves with blue floral and bird decoration on two sides. This brown-glazed export porcelain is sometimes called Batavia ware or Batavia brown after the Dutch East India Company settlement and trading post of Batavia (modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia) from which most of it was shipped to Europe. The exterior iron-brown wash was popular on inexpensive export china made from the late 17th through the mid-18th century. During the period the color was referred to as "cafe au lait," "brown," "the color of dead leaves," and even "cow dung." This brown glaze ranged from a light to a dark brown, can be left undecorated; decorated with a thin watery gilding; or with reserve panels often shaped like a fan or a leaf showing the underlying white porcelain body embellished with floral designs. The interiors were often decorated in underglaze blue or overglaze enamels. Pairs or groups of vases and garniture sets were exported in large quantities to satisfy the Dutch and European passion for porcelain. Miniature garniture sets could be displayed above fireplaces like full size forms.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+60.302.1 |
