Pilgrim Bottle Vase
Asian Art
The pilgrim flask form was widespread in both time and place and was produced in a variety of media, including Venetian glass, Central Asian leather,
and Chinese ceramics. Some have suggested that the round, moon-shaped
form originated in the Near East, but no matter what the origin, the various
examples bear witness to travel of both people and technologies throughout the diverse cultural landscape of the Silk Route.
This pilgrim bottle vase, boldly decorated with
pomegranates, peaches, and other Chinese symbols of prosperity, longevity,
and integrity, manifests the development of the once foreign cloisonnee technique during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The technique, which involves
constructing a design in metal and filling it with multicolored enamel, was
highly developed in the Byzantine Empire in the tenth and eleventh centuries
and traveled eastward during the Mongol period.
MEDIUM
Cloisonné enamel on copper alloy
DATES
early 17th century
DYNASTY
Ming Dynasty
PERIOD
Late Ming Dynasty
ACCESSION NUMBER
09.657
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Samuel P. Avery
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Pilgrim flask with short foot, globular body and tall, narrow neck. Copper carved with cloisonné enamel. The foot and mouth as well as the handle are rimmed in gilt. Turquoise blue ground with decoration of peaches and pomegranates in red, dark blue, green, and yellow enamels. Loop handle on each side of the neck. One of four pieces in the Avery collection to bear a Jingtai mark, here shown in a gilded panel on the neck just below the mouth rim. According to the catalogue of the Avery collection of Ancient Chinese Cloisonné, Brooklyn 1912, the mark-Jingtai, 1450-1456, might be apocryphal, in which case the piece might have been made in the Kangxi period, 1662-1722. Although the form of such flasks is found in ceramics of the 15th and 18th centuries, the technique of enameling with tiny spiral wires scattered on a blue background is peculiar to the 17th century. The decorative motifs, the pomegranate, peach, rock, fungus [sic], orchid and narcissus together symbolize prosperity, longevity, and integrity.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Pilgrim Bottle Vase, early 17th century. Cloisonné enamel on copper alloy, 10 1/4 x 6 11/16 in. (26 x 17 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Samuel P. Avery, 09.657. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 09.657_side1_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE
profile, 09.657_side1_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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