LATE 17TH EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE JAPANESE IMARI MODEL OF A DUTCHMAN ON A CASK
Late 17th early 18th Century
The amusing figure modelled with a detachable head, seated astride a gin cask holding up a bottle in his raised left hand as if to pour its contents into the goblet held in front of him in his right hand, wearing a hat with foliage and a feather, a coat moulded in relief and painted in underglaze blue, iron-red, green, yellow and pale aubergine enamels and gilt with lotus and scrolling foliage, his blue breeches and leggings decorated in iron-red and gilt with prunus blossom, the front of the cask enamelled with peony around a small aperture for the tap (lacking), all on a fixed rectangular scroll base moulded and painted at the front with a karashishi above a band of studs, minor restoration
14 in. (35.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 27 November 1984, lot 9 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. J-126).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Further details

END OF SALE

Lot Essay

Originating from a Dutch Delft design inspired by the God Bacchus, very few of these models are known. A blue and white example is in the British Museum, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Japanese Porcelain, London, 1965, pl. 13A. There are three similar coloured versions in Japan: one is in a private collection, another is in the Idemitsu Museum in Tokyo and the third is in the Kurita Collection, illustrated in Kurita Hideo, Imari, Ashikaga, 1975, no. 211, p. 369

T.Volker states that the Dutch registers refer to statuettes in underglaze blue and it is possible that this may include the above.

Although most probably for gin, Delft models are recorded with inscriptions for various other spirits.

An interesting dissertation on the dating of these casks was written by Dr T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer entitled 'A Japanese spirit keg'; similar examples are in the Rijksmuseum and the Kasteel-Museum Sypestein at Loosdrecht
A very similar model was sold Christie's, London, 16 November 1998, lot 470.

More from The Dr Anton C.R.Dreesmann Collection European Furniture

View All