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Pot

Unidentified artist
English (London)
marked 1550–51 with later alterations
Object Place: Europe, London, England
Medium/Technique Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration (China, Ming dynasty, Chia-ching mark [1552–56]) with silver gilt mounts
Dimensions H. 19.5k cm (7 11/16 in.); W. 14 cm (5 1/2 in.); Diameter (of foot) 10.4 cm (4 1/8 in.)
Credit Line Theodora Wilbour Fund in memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour
Accession Number57.530
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSilver
DescriptionThe bulbous porcelain jar is thrown from a fine textured paste with a gray-green hue. It is painted in underglaze blue with carp and foliage and fitted into a molded silver foot ring with a dentiled border. The foot is joined to the handle by a flat strip of foliate outline. The C-shaped handle is D-shaped in section. The silver neck of the jug flares slightly near the rim and is bordered at the base with a molded and twisted wire. The slightly domed cover is embossed with six scrolls interspersed with cornucopias and foliage against a matted ground. The inscription is engraved in a central roundel. The thumbpiece is in the form of addorsed male and female busts. The foot is assembled from formed sheet and molded drawn wires. The handle is formed of two sections; the scam is split on the lower edge. The neck is raised and has an applied drawn and twisted wire. An applied lip on the inside lower rim is folded over the edge of the porcelain. The raised and embossed cover has an applied molded wire edge. The thumbpiece is cast.
Marks On inside of cover and on neck, maker's mark a walet hook palewise on a bend crosswise in a plain shield (Jackson, 1921, p. 98; rev. ed. 1989, p. 95) (repeated on underside of foot); lion passant; leopard's head crowned; date letter N
InscriptionsEngraved on cover, LIVE TO DIE AND LIVE
ProvenanceJuly 26, 1939, anonymous ("different properties") sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, lot 140A, to Fenouil for £140. John Hunt, London and Dublin. May 9, 1957, anonymous sale ("property of a lady"), Sotheby's, London, lot 123, to Garrard and Co., London; sold by Garrard to the MFA for $10,097. (Accession Date: June 5, 1957)