Japanese Imari 1690-1800 - Imari with no Underglaze Blue, Iron-red and Gold only - Page 1

Object 2011992

Miniature bottle ("doll's house" vase)

Japan

1690-1720

Height 41 mm (1.61 inch), diameter 24 mm (0.94 inch), diameter of mouthrim 6 mm (0.23 inch), diameter of foot 17 mm (0.67 inch), weight 13 grams (0.46 ounce (oz.)),

Double-gourd miniature bottle ("doll's house" vase) on a flat unglazed base. Shaped like a baluster vase. Imari decorated in overglaze iron-red and gold with various flower sprays.

This small miniature "doll's house" vase could have been used for the furnishing of a doll's house.

At the beginning of the 18th century, there was a fashion among wealthy Dutch ladies to have models made on the scale of a house, the so called "doll's houses". The rooms of these doll's houses were furnished with miniature pieces of porcelain, furniture, paintings, upholstery and all other sorts of objects that would have belonged to the interior of a wealthy home. These doll's houses were very costly and certainly not meant for children to play with but were proudly displayed for friends and visitors and regarded as extremely luxurious items - counterparts of the cabinets of curiosities that were a fashionable hobby of rich men. Only a few of these doll's houses have been preserved. One example can be found in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague showing an 18th century room with porcelain miniatures in cupboards and on brackets along the wall.

In reality the majority of these "miniature doll's house vases" would have been part of the interior. A good example of an authentic porcelain room is the famous cabinet in Pommersfelden Castle, Germany, where groups of pieces on brackets are surrounded by these miniature vases lining the borders of the consoles.

(Jörg & Flecker 2001)

In O. Impey's "Japanese Export Porcelain. Catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford", Category 36, is devoted to coloured Imari with no underglaze blue, red and gold only. The implication of this singular restriction of palette, without the use of underglaze blue, is that these may be the product of a single enamelling workshop, but may or may not be the product of a single kiln. The restriction is probably one of choice, for it would hardly be cheaper, if at all, to use a wider range of enamels, and no cheaper to use underglaze blue. (Impey 2002, pp.220-221)

For an identically shaped and decorated miniature bottle ("doll's house" vase) see;

Japanese Export porcelain. Catalogue of the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (O. Impey, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2002), p.221, cat. 382.

For an identically shaped and similarly decorated miniature bottle ("doll's house" vase) see;

Japanese Imari 1690-1800 - Imari with no Underglaze Blue, Iron-red and Gold only - Page 1 - Object 2011100.

Condition: Two tiny firing flaws.

References:

Jörg & Flecker 2001, pp.50-52.

Impey 2002, p.221, cat. 382.

Price: € 199 Currency Converter