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Bottle Vase with Lions, Balls, and Tassels
(China )
This bottle vase's globular body and tall straight neck are painted with designs in underglaze cobalt blue on white porcelain. A series of Fu Lions are depicted playing with brocaded balls, tassels waving lively around the bounding animals. The lions, characterized by their manes and fluffy tails, are Buddhist guardians often portrayed in similar scenes as the one depicted on this bottle. On the shoulder of the vase is a diaper band filled with blooms while the neck is painted with a creature; it shares the serpentine body of a dragon but lacks a mane or claws. The mystical creature's split tail forms leafy vines surrounded by dispersed flames and an effulgent pearl. Just beneath the lip of the vase are two rings.
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.
Graves Sale, American Art Association, 1909, no. 404; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; by bequest by Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Geographies
China (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 17 1/8 in. (43.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by 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.
49.1609