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Details
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE PILGRIM FLASK BEARING THE ARMS OF PHILIP II OF SPAIN (1556-98)
MING DYNASTY, WANLI (1573-1619)
the flattened circular flask with short cylindrical neck and trapezoidal foot, thickly potted and painted in outline and wash with a central medallion with the Spanish royal arms, Castile and Leon quarterly, enclosed by two bands of studs simulating metalwork and encircled by radiating lotus flowers and leaves, the reverse with a scene depicting a scholar and boy standing in a mountainous landscape, the flat sides painted with trailing lotus flowers, the reduced neck with a butterfly in flight above flowers issuing from rockwork -- 10¼in. (26cm.) high, late 16th Century, white metal foliate mount to the neck, (neck cut down with numerous glaze chips, vertical firing fault to one side, areas of fritting).
MING DYNASTY, WANLI (1573-1619)
the flattened circular flask with short cylindrical neck and trapezoidal foot, thickly potted and painted in outline and wash with a central medallion with the Spanish royal arms, Castile and Leon quarterly, enclosed by two bands of studs simulating metalwork and encircled by radiating lotus flowers and leaves, the reverse with a scene depicting a scholar and boy standing in a mountainous landscape, the flat sides painted with trailing lotus flowers, the reduced neck with a butterfly in flight above flowers issuing from rockwork -- 10¼in. (26cm.) high, late 16th Century, white metal foliate mount to the neck, (neck cut down with numerous glaze chips, vertical firing fault to one side, areas of fritting).
Special notice
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Further details
This flask is most likely to have been part of a royal commission. It bears the arms of Philip II of Spain who is known to have had an extensive collection of Chinese porcelain. The arms themselves would have been copied from a coin and the shape, an unfamiliar one in China, was most likely based on an Islamic metal prototype. Philip II reigned in Portugal from 1580 until his death in 1598 and therefore it is possible that this piece was commissioned around the union of the crowns in 1580.
Similar examples are known in both private and museum collections. All of these display the royal arms of Spain, however some of them have insects amongst flowers and rockwork on the reverse side instead of the scene depicting the scholar and boy. Examples can be found in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Gemeentmuseum, The Hague; Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt; Peabody Museum of Salem, Boston and National Museum, Tokyo.
Similar examples are known in both private and museum collections. All of these display the royal arms of Spain, however some of them have insects amongst flowers and rockwork on the reverse side instead of the scene depicting the scholar and boy. Examples can be found in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Gemeentmuseum, The Hague; Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt; Peabody Museum of Salem, Boston and National Museum, Tokyo.