Bottle
Category
Ceramics
Date
circa 1730
Materials
Porcelain, enamel
Measurements
270 x 108 mm; 35 mm (Width)
Place of origin
Jingdezhen
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 870943
Summary
Bottle, porcelain, square section with rounded top from which rises a short cylindrical neck, made in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China, Yongzheng period (1723–35), c. 1730, decorated in the famille rose (‘pink family’) palette in pink, red, green, blue, yellow, brown and black enamels with alternating scenes of a long-tailed bird in a peony tree and a hut in the mountains on the sides, the top with peony flowers and foliage on a ground of tight swirls.
Full description
The shape of these bottles was originally European, used for sets of bottles (transported in fitted cases) which held either alcoholic beverages or spice oils. In the late seventeenth century the shape was copied by Japanese porcelain producers, decorated in the Imari and Kakiemon styles, for export to Europe, which in turn inspired slightly later Chinese-made versions. A pair of more or less identical bottles was sold at Bukowski’s, Stockholm, 6–9 December 2011, lot 1439. Famille rose porcelain was particularly popular in Europe during the middle and the second half of the 18th century, as it chimed with the taste for brighter and more saturated colours in interiors and fashion during this period (North 2018). There are similarities between the style of famille rose decoration seen on this bottle and that on the otherwise quite different set of dishes (NT 870847.1-9) and bowl (NT 870944) also in the Saltram collection.
Provenance
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust, 1957.
References
North 2018: Susan North, 18th-Century Fashion in Detail, London, 2018., p. 14