Provenance:
- With Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York 1950-‘s (Label)
- Henry Ford II Collection, UK, 2021 (inv.nr. D-14 – A&B)
Condition Report Available
Price on request
This object can be viewed in our gallery.
A pair of large bottles on a high foot-ring, lavishly decorated with mythical beasts in bright famille verte enamels. The rounded pear-shaped body, tapers into a long cylindrical neck, flaring slightly at the mouth. The main decoration around the body is of three large auspicious animals, standing on rocks amongst waves. Each beast has red flames around their legs underlining their mythical powers. Around the shoulder is a green stippled band with flower heads, interrupted by four blue edged cartouches each with qilong dragons in yellow or blue. The lower part of the neck has lotus scrolls in green with red and blue buds and flowers. The top of the neck has pending tassels hanging from a band of green and yellow ruyi-yuntou 如意雲頭 (‘wish-fulfilling’ stylised cloud scrolls). Above this is a diaper border with red starbursts. The edge of the neck is decorated with a band of black key-fret on a green ground.
The three depicted beasts each have a different coloured body and a different animal head - dragon, lion and goat. It appears that some of their features have interchanged, making identification harder, but they appear to represent the mythical qiling (yellow), baize (green) and xiezhi (aubergine). The dragon-headed qilin brings peace and prosperity - only appearing on the arrival or death of an illustrious ruler. The fur bodied baize, has the body of a lion with scaling on its shoulders and flanks. It can comprehend the nature of all things and is a symbol of purity and righteousness. The xiezhi, with dark fur and a single horn, has the capability to distinguish right from wrong. Each of these three creatures represents different outstanding virtues and good fortune, together forming a potent wish for good prosperity.
The National Trust, UK, has an identical pair but mounted, held at Melford Hall, Suffolk (inv.nr. NT 926293). All the other comparable large bottles, generally just depict Buddhist lions. Examples are in the Royal Porcelain Collection, Dresden (inv.nr. PO 6859) and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (AK-RBK 15822). The Victoria & Albert Museum London has a pair with frolicking Buddhist lions (acc.nrs. C.1194-1910 & C.1193-1910), as does the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon (inv.nrs. 2302 A & B). The Metropolitan Museum, New York has a single bottle (acc.nr. 37.191.10).
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