ewer
- Museum number
- PDF,B.617
- Description
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Covered porcelain ewer with teardrop-shaped body. Underglaze blue with teardrop-shaped panel on each side containing boys playing in a garden, with a donkey and a hobby horse. Flower and fruit sprays around the sides of panels. Flower sprays around the lid with a band of ruyi heads at base of knop. There is an inscription on the base.
- Production date
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1522-1566 (ewer)
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1736-1795 (cover)
- Dimensions
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Height: 292 millimetres
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Width: 246 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Published PDF date : Ming Jiajing
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Room 95 label text:
PDF B617
Covered ewer with eight boys at play
Cobalt pigment used for imperial wares during the second half of the sixteenth century has a distinctive strong, dark, and even tone. Here it is used skilfully to depict scenes of boys processing in gardens, framed within peach-shaped panels, on either side. A smiling boy, wearing an official’s hat, is shown riding a hobby horse. He is playing at being a successful scholar-official, mounted on a horse, accompanied by three smaller boys who play the part of his servants. One carries a lotus leaf as a parasol to shade him from the sun; another carries a stool in case he tires of riding or perhaps to help him mount the horse; and the third proclaims his arrival with a stick. On the other side, a boy is shown riding a goat which is being led by its bridle, while another boy walks alongside and a fourth brandishes a flying banner. Chinese people regard genre scenes of children playing as auspicious, representing a wish for many sons. The number eight is also lucky in China.
Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province江西省, 景德鎮
Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period, AD1522–66 cover Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, AD1736–95
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PDF B617
八子嬰戲圖執壺
十六世紀后半葉御用陶瓷所用的鈷料特別，色調強烈深重均勻，在這件瓷器上得到了嫻熟使用。執壺兩面都有桃形開光，其中描繪男童在園中戲耍行進。一男童面帶笑容，頭戴官帽身騎竹馬，演的是中舉文人騎馬游行。三個小些的男童扮演其侍從，一個手持荷葉作為傘蓋為其遮擋陽光，一個攜凳供其上馬時用，或騎馬累時坐凳休息，第三個則手持棍棒宣告其駕臨。執壺另一面，一個男童身騎韁繩牽引的山羊，另一男童徒步隨行，第四個揮動旗幟飛舞。中國人將嬰戲圖樣式視作吉祥，寓意期盼多子。另外八在中國是吉祥數字。
瓷器，青花
江西省景德鎮
明代，嘉靖，嘉靖款，1522-1566年。壺蓋清代，乾隆，1736–1795年
- Bibliographic references
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Pierson 2004 / Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art (p.80, no.B617, reign mark, p.117)
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Medley 1976 / Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains (pp 56-57, no.B617, pl.XI)
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Krahl & Harrison-Hall 2009 / Chinese Ceramics: Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection (p.78, no.39) (p.94, mark on base)
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Scott 1989b / Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art: A Guide to the Collection (p.80, no.70)
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Scott & Kerr 1994 / Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period (p.30, no.51)
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Medley 1975 / Volume 7: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art (Colour pl. 63 and p. 313)
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Pierson 2001 / Designs as Signs: Decoration and Chinese Ceramics (p. 47, no. 40)
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Pierson 2004A / Blue and White for China: Porcelain Treasures in the Percival David Collection (pp 86-86, no. 35)
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Hobson, Rackham & King 1931 / Chinese Ceramics in Private Collections (p.174, Fig. 318)
- Location
- On display (G95/dc57/s3)
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- PDF,B.617
