Bottle-shaped Vase

This watercolor was commissioned by William T. Walters to serve as one of the models for color lithographs used to illustrate "Oriental Ceramic Art," the catalog of Walters' Chinese porcelain collection. The publication of this book was begun under Walters' supervision, but following his death in 1894, it was completed under the guidence of his son and founder of the Walters Art Museum, Henry. Printed by Louis Prang & Co. of Roxbury, MA, the catalog was one of the earliest and most thorough treatments of Chinese ceramics to be published in the US. The watercolors were presented to Henry Walters following the publication of the prints in 1897.

James Callowhill and his sons James II and Percy painted the watercolors for the project in the Walters' family townhouse on Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore. The reflection on the side of this vase accurately shows houses at the junction of Monument and Cathedral Street and the steeple of a church that still stands at the intersection of Madison and Park Street.

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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.

Commissioned by William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1889; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894 [1]; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.

[1] The watercolors were not completed until between 1895 and 1897, when Henry Walters finally took possession of them.