Coiled-Dragon Vase

Description This is an example of panlong ping, or coiled dragon vase. No more than seven examples of panlong ping are known, making it one of the rarest types of peach bloom ware produced by the Imperial kilns at Jingdeshen. The dragon for which the vase is named is fully modeled, coiling atop the slightly inclined shoulders at the base of a long cylindrical neck. It opens its mouth and digs its claws into the vase beneath it. A bright green uniform glaze covering the serpentine dragon contrasts vividly with the copper-red peach bloom glaze covering the vase. Apple red dapples the deep red-pink glaze and flashes of apple green are dispersed sparingly on the body and beneath the clear white rim. Overall, the vase presents an elegant verticality and playful nature with the inclusion of a lively and colorful dragon.

Conservation

Old restorations were removed and news fills and inpainting were added. Portions of the rim, tail, flaps around the neck, whiskers, head crest, and tongue have been been recreated. Preliminary analysis of the glazes was performed using x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.

The vase has late 19th or early 20th century repairs that are discolored and deteriorated.

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Treatment	chemical analysis; cleaned; filled; inpainted; loss compensation; surface cleaned; x-ray florescence
1/30/2018	Examination	Examined for treatment

Provenance Mrs. Mary Morgan, New York; Mrs. Mary J. Morgan Sale, American Art Association, March 8, 1886, lot 347; purchased by William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1886; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.

Inscriptions [Reign Mark] In blue underglaze: da qing kang xi nian zhi

Credit Acquired by William T. Walters, 1886