Fruit Pyramids

These pyramids have moulded fruits piled onto fluted dishes. They have bright enamelling in a limited palette of ochre yellow, green and brown glazes – a colour combination known in China as sancai. Each fruit was individually moulded, then arranged layer by layer and joined with slip. The veined leaves were added last before firing. The coloured enamelling would be added onto the biscuit body, after which it was fired again at a lower temperature.

The various fruits on these dishes are rendered very naturalistically. The lychee pyramid, is glazed in yellow, brown and green and interspersed with small green and a few yellow leaves. The fruit is arranged standing upright in four layers in a yellow glazed dish. The two other pyramids, both depict finger citrons (foshou 佛手柑) - also known as Buddha’s hand. They are enamelled in a rich ochre yellow, the glaze pooling to a darker colour in the indentations. One has nine citrons in three layers, in a dish with just a green rim. The other has a larger arrangement in four layers, each fruit with some additional green glazing, in a dish which is yellow outside with a green rim.

Such porcelain derives from the Chinese tradition of piling offerings of sweetmeats and fruits onto house altars to honour the ancestors. These porcelain models are probably related to earlier funerary models of food dishes, used in burials for use in the afterlife. Artificial fruit dishes such as these, were certainly an excellent and practical alternative to using fresh fruit. These exotic looking objects, were also exported to the West as luxury curiosities throughout the 18th century. The earliest recorded example in Europe of such a fruit pyramid, was a small sketch made by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin in the French auction catalogue of Monsieur Gaignat in 1769.

China, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

H: 45 cm

PROVENANCE

James A. Garland Collection, USA, 1895 (inv.no.1024)

With Joseph Duveen, New York

J.P. Morgan Collection, USA, 1902 - 1914 (inv.no.862)

Private Collection, Europe, 2013

With Vanderven Oriental Art, The Netherlands

LITERATURE

Beijing 1989, no.32

Bushell 1896 (ed. 1980), pl.XVII p.379

Bushell & Laffan 1907, p.156 no.862

Davids & Jellinek 2011, p.191 & 328

Getz 1895, p.34 & pl. case 3

St. Clair 2016, p.134-136

Strouse 2000

Welch 2008, p.173, 176, 215 & 216

A pair of unusual pear-shaped vases with famille verte enamels on a white ground, handsomely decorated with highly auspicious figures and symbols. The bulbous body stands on a high foot, the tall neck gently flaring out to a wide mouth. On both sides is a large Chinese character for Shou and Fu, filled with a diaper pattern and outlined in black. It is overlaid with a large circular reserve medallion with scenes of Daoist figures in a landscape. The everted mouth has a band of lingzhi fungus alternating in yellow, aubergine and green, with a row of black dots below. The neck is decorated with two flying cranes holding a branch with a peach, alternating with cloud clusters. Clouds are the symbol of the celestial realms and the cranes emblems of longevity – both typical Daoist emblems. The lower neck has four adjoined ornamental bands in green, yellow and black with various repeating designs. The high foot, is decorated with light green overlapping stylised leaves. Around the slightly flaring foot rim, are another three pattern-bands in yellow, aubergine and dark green.

Overlaying the Shou (longevity) characters on both vases, is a scene of the Daoist Star Gods with three boys. The figure of Shoulao (God of Longevity), offers a large peach – the magical immortality fruit - to one of the boys. The other two figures are Fuxing (God of blessings holding a child) and Luxing (God of Rank and Emolument holding a sceptre). In popular religion, these Daoist deities were believed to help you achieve happiness, long life and wealth. The panels over the large characters for Fu (happiness) have a scene of the Eight Daoist immortals in a garden with a large pine tree. Each immortal can be identified by their appearance and the attribute they carry.

The underside of these vases have fabulously preserved labels from the Garland, as well as the Morgan collections. There are also several additional unidentified inventory numbers and labels. They were on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, first from James Garland and later J.P. Morgan.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has a famille verte rouleau vase, with similar bold decoration on the body (acc.no. 21.2283). The Palace Museum, Beijing also has a rouleau vase, decorated with large character overlayed with panels, very similar to these. The Jie Rui Tang Collection, USA also has a pear-shaped vase of a similar shape decorated in famille verte enamels (no. 1330). The Burrell Collection, Glasgow has a similar shaped vase, but in underglaze cobalt blue (acc.no. 38.1043).

EXHIBITED

The Metropolitan Museum, New York 1895-1913 Wadsworth Atheneum, Morgan the Mind of a Collector, 2017 (Loan TL2017.29.6A)

PUBLISHED IN

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Hand-Book of a Collection of Chinese Porcelains Loaned by James A. Garland, 1895, p.34 & pl.case 3

Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelain 1907 no. 862 – 863

James A. Garland (1840-1906) was a prominent New Yorker, the Vice-President of the First National Bank of New York and an organiser and builder of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Like J.P. Morgan, he was a client of Duveen Brothers and a serious collector of art works, especially Chinese porcelain.

The James A. Garland collection of Chinese porcelain, was one of the largest and comprehensive in the United States, comprising over a thousand Kangxi blue and white and coloured porcelains. The collection was permanently on loan to The Metropolitan Museum, New York until his death in 1902. It was sold to the Duveen brothers for $500,000, who quickly sold the collection to John Pierpoint Morgan (1837 – 1913), another fervent collector of Chinese porcelains.

China, Kangxi period (1662 – 1722), circa 1710

Ø: 20.4 cm

Provenance

With John Sparks, London (label) Collection Dreesman no.18 (label)

Sotheby’s Amsterdam Oct 1999, lot no.24

With Vanderven & Vanderven

Oriental Art 1999 van Daalen Collection, Geneva, Switzerland 2019

Literature

Bartholomew 2006, p.43

Jörg 2011, p.55 no.53

Leidy 2015, no.36

Pei 2004, p.59-61

Schumacher 2010, no.64