Provenance:
- Private Collection, The Netherlands 2024
Condition Report Available
€ 17,500
This object can be viewed in our gallery.
A large round bodied Yixing stoneware ewer; the spout, handle and lid finial moulded in the shape of gnarly branches. The body and the lid are decorated in low relief with scrolling grapevine branches, leaves and abundant bunches of grapes. The budding leaves on the ends of the trailing vines, are still furled up. The distinctive sharply moulded leaves, have naturalistic veining - perhaps taken from an impression of a real leaf. One of the branches shoots from the top of the handle, the second one from the spout. The decorative moulding is executed in great detail, the finely grained Yixing clay ensuring it remained crisp and sharp even after firing.
Grapes (葡萄 pútáo) were first grown in China in the Western Han dynasty (206BC-9AD). They are known for their fast and plentiful growth, producing grapes in large clusters. Grapes are generally symbolic of autumn, harvests and the abundance of food. But in China vines (wan) also represent plenty - in the sense of material wealth - as well as the wish for a profusion offspring. This association with abundance, make grapes an auspicious fruit, often enjoyed during Chinese New Year celebrations.
The distinctive red coloured Yixing wares are made from a clay also known as zisha (purple sand), which is only found in the area around Yixing city in Jiangsu province. This type of stoneware was produced from the Song dynasty onwards, becoming particularly popular amongst the scholarly class during the Ming dynasty. In China, Yixing teapots are particularly valued for brewing black tea, as their unglazed surface absorbs certain amount of the flavour - which continuously adds to an increasingly complex taste of the tea. Some tea connoisseurs even insist on steeping only one type of tea in a particular pot, so as not to corrupt the already absorbed flavour!
A similar teapot with vines is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (acc.nr. AK-NM 6574), another in the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem (acc.nr. E85049. ab). The Royal Porcelain Collection (Dresden), has a similar ewer with added gold decoration, it has vines but no grapes and a squirrel on the lid (inv.nr. PO 3867). They also have a smaller Yixing teapot with grapevines and a squirrel (inv.nr. PO 3868).
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