Flower pot

Dateca. 1690

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft / delftware)

DimensionsH: 8 3/8"; (21.3 cm).

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958-35

DescriptionUrn-shaped vase with curved everted lip, molded flaring base, and two grooved voluted loop handles. Bluish tin glaze decorated in blue: on one side, a Chinese man standing in a fenced garden; on either side, a squatting Chinese man in a similar setting; stylized Chinese borders on handles and base.
Label TextUrn-shaped vases, perhaps made for flowers, could stand on their own on a table or mantel. They were produced from the end of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth. On the earliest pieces the handles appear as bold loops, some simulating rope, and on the later ones as lion masks. The decoration on the early examples is primarily oriental and on the late examples consists of figures in European landscapes. The decoration on this piece relates to two privately owned London-style posset pots dated 1685 and 1687. The shape, with the exception of the handles, relates to a blue-ground vase excavated in London.
InscribedNo
MarkingsNo
ProvenanceA. F. Allbrook, London