Creative Commons License
Vase with Fabulous Animal
(China )
This small bottle-shaped vase, with a low globular body and tall straight neck, is painted in underglaze cobalt blue on a white porcelain body. Depicted on the body is a lion with dragon-like qualities. Tufts of hair akin to flames rise from the shoulders and hips, tinted with copper red underglaze. Red rings also appear around the creature's eyes. The lion is depicted scratching at a pine tree with its front paw while a bat, a symbol for happiness, flies overhead. Subdued blue tones are applied in thin lines, exemplified in the thick woven pattern of the pine leaves, the swaying blades of grass, and the lively mane of the lion. Crackling of the glaze is visible on the white body.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
William T. or Henry Walters Collection, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Geographies
China (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. or Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
49.959