DIMENSIONS

Height: 9 ¾ inches

 

PROVENANCE

Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 1999

 

CATALOGUE NOTES

Fine and rare famille verte "G" bottle vase, of bottle shaped form with long and slender cylindrical neck and globular body. The vase rests upon a straight circular pedestal foot with slightly recessed underfoot. The neck and body of the vase are similarly decorated with floral roundels and leafy tendrils, all finely drawn in famille verte enamels of green, rouge de fer, overglaze blue, yellow and black. Around the top of the neck, below the lip, is a band of rouge de fer diamond-shape key fret design with blue flower head decoration. The shoulder is decorated with a stippled aubergine ground band filled with equal-spaced floral roundels, flower buds, and tendrils all drawn in rouge de fer, green, and yellow. The underfoot is decorated in the center with a so-called "G" mark, drawn in underglaze blue. Background: Porcelain bearing the "G" mark are rare and unusual. Bottle shaped vases such as this are known in famille verte and blue and white. The decorative motifs suggest some Middle Eastern influence. The "G" mark has yet to be definitively understood. It is generally accepted to be the mark put on pieces for the special order of a merchant. Examples of "G" bottles may be found in important private and museum collections around the world.