Description:
Chinese export porcelain, press-molded cornocopia-shaped wall pocket with spiral molding along its length, decorated in famille rose palette with scattered floral sprays and a gilt cross hatched band with polychrome floral sprays around the rim. Fresh, dried and artificial flowers were commonly used as room decorations in the 18th centuries, and were displayed in pockets, flower bricks, vases, pots, and bowls. Wall pockets, which first appeared in China in the 17th century, reached the peak of their popularity in mid 18th century. In 1767, the scholar Zhu Yan was engaged by the governor of the province of Jiangxi to write a history of porcelain manufacturing at Jingdezhen; in 1774, Zhu Yan published the resulting study, "Dao Shuo." Under the category of “Porcelain of the Reign of Wanli: Painted in Blue on a White Ground,” he listed “Flower vases in the form of a double gourd cut in halves (so as to hang on the wall).” Wall pockets were featured in the decoration of the Library at the Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm, Sweden. An exotic pleasure palace constructed in 1753 as a present for Queen Louisa Ulrica, the Pavilion was filled with a collection of Japanese and Chinese figures. When the Chinese Pavilion passed into the hands of the State in 1777, its contents were inventoried. This listing shows that the Library’s furnishings included “8 flower cornucopia of coloured porcelain.” Today the room displays several different varieties of wall pockets, including a pair of cornucopia-shaped examples, five pair with boys holding vases, and a single pair with boys flanking vases, all from the collection of Queen Louisa Ulrica. Wall pockets came in three basic shapes: faces (the incorporation of a human visage or grotesque mask in the design), balusters, and cornucopiae. Sold in pairs, they could be symmetrical or asymmetrical with left and right-handed shapes; examples such as these asymmetrical spiral "horns of plenty" or cornucopia pockets were called "flower horns" in 18th century documents. Chinese export porcelain wall pockets rarely found their way to the American market, although their English-made counterparts made it to the American market in limited quantities, and advertisements for them in American newspapers are rare. William Ellery of Hartford advertised delft “flower horns” in the Connecticut Courant of November 5, 1771. The Ellery day books list sales of “1 pr. Large grane [green?] Flower horns” 6s to John Ledyard, Esquire on August 24, 1767, and another pair of “large Agle [angel or eagle?] flower horns” sold to him in May 10, 1768 for 4s 6p. As in this example, pockets were usually constructed of press-molded fronts joined to a flat, slab back, which was invariably pierced with two holes for hanging. Condition: Has been broken and repaired.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.342.2 |
