The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Jug with Portuguese arms

Art Object

Reading, Writing, and Roentgen

Carolyn Sargentson, independent art historian and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum, outlines how changing social practices altered the designs and styles of furniture, both for the nobility and the lower classes.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens on view October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013.

The exhibition and catalogue are made possible by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock
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The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
(00:02:20) 11562 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 18147 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
(00:01:00) 3152 views

Jug with Portuguese arms

Date:: ca.1520–40
Culture:: Chinese
Medium:: Hard-paste porcelain with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware)
Dimensions:: H. 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm.)
Classification:: Ceramics
Credit Line:: Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, Purchase, Winfield Foundation Gift, 1961
Accession Number:: 61.196

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 201

Description

This ewer with the Portuguese royal arms is witness to the first East-West trade in Chinese porcelain carried on by the Portuguese in the mid-sixteenth century. The form is neither Chinese nor European; rather, it is based on an Islamic metalwork vessel made for the Near Eastern market that was appropriated for the new European trade. The Chinese painters have misunderstood the Portuguese coat of arms, which appears upside down.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Marking: Hsüan Tê nien hao (in underglaze blue, on underside within double circle)
Provenance

Helena Woolworth McCann ; D.M. Hubrecht (until 1961; sale, Sotheby & Co., London, October 17, 1961, no. 107; to MMA)
See also
What
Metal (59,483)

Ceramics (29,330)

Clay (23,631)

Vessels (21,926)

Faience (11,688)

Porcelain (11,378)

Glaze (5,162)

Jugs (1,685)

Cobalt (237)
Where
Asia (68,072)

China (17,342)
When
A.D. 1400-1600 (20,634)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,228)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Central and North Asia, 1400–1600 A.D.

China, 1400–1600 A.D.
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