Sold Ceramics - Sold Chinese Imari 1700-1800 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1

Object 2010651

Tea caddy

China

1720-1750

Height with silver mounts 121 mm (4.76 inch), dimensions 52 mm (2.05 inch) x 93 mm (3.66 inch)

Tea caddy of rectangular form with canted corners, a flat shoulder with underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou), a short upright neck. The flat base is unglazed. The original cover is missing and replaced by Dutch silver mounts (marked) of which the cover is engraved. Chinese Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, overglaze iron-red and gold with houses and shrubbery near a river running before a crenulated wall with a fortress, a flagpole and pine and cherry trees. On the shoulder flowering branches.

The scene of houses and shrubbery near a river running before a crenulated wall is unusual in Chinese Imari ware. This type of decoration, with the brick wall and the pagoda is often referred to as the 'Chinese wall' while others think it is a Chinese fortress within walls. (Gordon 1977, p.47)

For identically decorated objects, please see:

Condition: A glaze chip to the edge and base and some very tiny glaze frits to the edges due to the firing process.

References:

Gordon 1977, cat. 31

Kassel 1990, cat. 138

Sargent 2012, p.183

Price: Sold.