Ref: W142
Archive item - not for sale
An unusual Chinese Islamic-shaped imari ewer and cover, c.1710, Kangxi (1662-1722), the pear-shaped body rising from a short spreading foot to a tall waisted knopped neck, with a large loop handle and gently sloping S-shaped moulded and brightly decorated in iron-red, underglaze blue and gilt in the imari palette, each side with a peach shaped panel containing a gilt lotus design with scrolling leaves against an iron red ground, flanked by tendrils and floral sprays, all above a lotus lappet band to the base, below which a design of alternate diamonds and ovals and scrolling leaves and flowers decorate the foot; a similar lotus petal moulded band to the waisted neck decorated with sprays of flowers in iron-red, leading up to a moulded band with iron-red cell pattern, with stiff bands of leaves in underglaze blue and gilt to either side, the domed cover surmounted by a bud-shaped finial.
Dimensions:
Height: 30.5cm. (12 in.)
Condition:
Shallow chip to foot
Notes:
Two ewers of identical shape but painted only in iron-red enamels and gold can be found in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and are illustrated in Kerr, Rose and Luisa E. Mengoni Chinese Export Ceramics London: V&A Publishing, 2011, p.108, pl.152. An almost identical ewer but without its lid can be found in the National Trust collection at Belton House, Lincolnshire NT 433499. Another similar example in iron-red and with a non-matching cover can be found in the Topkapi Saray Museum Collection and is illustrated in Regina Krahl and John Ayres, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istambul, vol. III, no. 2919, p. 935.
