Vase

late 16th - early 17th century

In the late Ming period, novel shapes and ornament emerged in porcelain, recalling ancient bronzes of the late Shang to early Zhou period (12th - 10th century B.C.) - yet the exuberant overall patterning of this vase is unmistakably 16th century. The blue color also has a purplish tone because of the high-manganese cobalt, mined from Yunnan province in southern China.

Porcelain with molded and underglaze-blue decorations

22 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (57.2 x 24.77 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

54.120

Provenance: Purchased by the Fuller family, Seattle, Washington, prior to 1933; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1933

Photo: Paul Macapia

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Porcelain Stories: From China to Europe, Feb. 17 - May 7, 2000.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Glaze, Pattern and Image: Decoration in Chinese Ceramics, Sept. 7 - Nov. 19, 2002.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective, Dec. 22, 2007 - July 26, 2009.

Published ReferencesEmerson, Julie, Jennifer Chen, and Mimi Gardner Gates. Porcelain Stories, From China to Europe. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Art Museum, 2000; p. 69.

Finlay, Robert. The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2010; reproduced pl. 9.

Waugh, Daniel C. "The Arts of China in Seattle." The Silk Road, vol. 12 (2014): pp. 137-152, reproduced p. 138, fig. 2.

Yiu, Josh. A Fuller View of China: Chinese Art in the Seattle Art Museum, in association with A Fuller View of China, Japan, and Korea. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Art Museum, in association with University of Washington Press, 2014; pp. 28-29, 31, reproduced fig. 8.

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