Lobed vase with underglaze cobalt blue decoration (1661–1722): Art, History and Details

Lobed vase with underglaze cobalt blue decoration (1661–1722) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Underglaze blue-and-white designs reached their highest painterly quality during the reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662–1722). Porcelain decorators achieved a level of artistic and technical sophistication that rivaled that of professional painters. Blue-and-white porcelains in brilliant cobalt blue catered to the taste of the educated class, the court, and foreign markets. Notice the blue-and-white porcelains in Pierre Bonnard’s painting Fruit and Fruit Dishes (CMA 2020.100); such ceramics on a French dining table would have been inspired by Chinese porcelains of this type.

Object facts

• Title: Lobed vase with underglaze cobalt blue decoration
• Date: 1661–1722
• Culture: China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi reign (1661-1722)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration
• Dimensions: Overall: 20.4 x 12.2 cm (8 1/16 x 4 13/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Qing Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2020.174

A detail from the museum

The underside shows the mark of a feather, done in blue underglaze.

Collection credit

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift

Further reading listed by the museum

• Von Spee, Clarissa. "Chinese Ceramics and Works on Paper." In The Keithley Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, edited by Heather Lemonedes Brown, 194–229. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.