Transitional Blue-and-White Square Bottle (1628–1722): Art, History and Details

Transitional Blue-and-White Square Bottle (1628–1722) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The shape of this flask derives from European gin bottles. Its decoration in brilliant shades of blue with fantastic animal motifs—such as a leopard, the mystical qilin, a horse, and another imaginary beast—is characteristic of porcelain of the transitional period between the Ming and Qing dynasties when potters lost imperial patronage and experimented to find new clients in China and abroad.

Object facts

• Title: Transitional Blue-and-White Square Bottle
• Date: 1628–1722
• Culture: China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Chongzhen reign (1628-44) or Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi reign (1662-1722)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration
• Dimensions: height: 31.1 cm (12 1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Ming Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2018.293

A detail from the museum

This flask's square shape and design represents a departure from the earlier imperial Ming dynasty style, which is mostly ornamental and symmetrical.

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beurdeley, Cécile. La Céramique chinoise: Le guide du connaisseur. Fribourg, France: Office du Livre, 1978.
• Christie's Paris. Art d'Asie. 7 December 2007. Sale 5490.
• Sotheby's Hong Kong, Ltd. Chinese art from two private American collections. 5 April 2017. Sale HK0767.

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.