Description:
Chinese export porcelain punch bowl decorated en grisaille (or encre de chine or ink color) with trelliswork rim border overpainted with four scrolling, gilt dragons, and Chinese landscape with a river, boats, trees, mountains, etc., running around the sides. The well has the same rim border over a scene of a man in a toga holding a dishelved woman in classical dress whose arm is on his right shoulder, both sitting on a platform, with two small tables with a candlestick, two jugs, dish and vase of flowers behind, and all surrounded by a wreath of flowers. Chinese enamelers developed ink-color decoration as a method of reproducing print images on porcelain for the western market. Dominated by black enamels and washes, ink-color decoration was first produced in the 1730s and remained popular throughout the 18th century. Often period documents refer to this decoration as "pencil'd," reflecting its use of fine brush strokes and black color. Often the figures in these romantic scenes on Chinese porcelain have been identified as Cupid and Psyche, Adonis and Venus, Acis and Galatea, etc. David Howard notes on one such scene that "this is much more likely to be a rural idyll in semi-classical form"; and Hervouet and Bruneau write: "It is probable that these lovers represent an anonymous couple, accorded with a mythological character to satisfy the test for antiquity, then in fashion."
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+65.035 |
