Headrest

ca. mid to late 17th century

The Japanese style of elegant enamel decoration using a palette of rich iron red, green, blue, and brown, had a large impact on porcelain decoration in the West. The quail pattern depicted on this Japanese headrest resonates on German, French, and even Chinese porcelain decorated in London, examples of which surround it here.

Hard paste porcelain

5 3/4 x 3 7/8 x 2 7/8 in. (14.5 x 9.84 x 7.3 cm)

Gift of Martha and Henry Isaacson

76.100

Provenance: [Mr William H. Lautz, New York, New York, 1968]; sold to Mr and Mrs Henry and Martha Isaacson, 1968-1976; gift from Mr and Mrs Henry and Martha Isaacson to Seattle Art Museum, Washington, 1976

Photo: Paul Macapia

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Media

Image Coming Soon

SAM's Porcelain Room

Resources

Exhibition HistoryNew Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Art Gallery, "Word in Flower: The Visualization of Classical Literature in 17th Century Japan", September 22 - November 11, 1989, (09/22/1989 - 11/12/1989)

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Porcelain Stories: From China to Europe", February 17, 2000-May 7, 2000 (2/17/2000 - 5/7/2000)

Published References"Selected Works." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, p. 196

Trubner, Henry. Asian Art in the Seattle Art Museum: Fifty Years of Collecting. Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1983;

Emerson, Julie et al. Porcelain Stories: From China to Europe. Seattle, WA : Seattle Art Museum in association with University of Washington Press, 2000, p. 161

Wheelwright, Carolyn. Word in Flower: The Visualization of Classical Literature in Seventeenth-Century Japan. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1989; Yamane Yūzō. An Illustration of Japanese Coloured Porcelain" vol. 2. Kyoto: Kyoto-Shoin Co, 1953, illus. no. 107

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