Provenance

• 1876/1878: given to Murray Marks (1840-1918), London art dealer;
• 1879: possibly sold at auction, Christie's, London, 7 February 1879 (lots 527-533), and bought by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930) (see Cylindrical Jar [M.0594]).
• 1893: probably acquired by Deprez and Gutekunst, London dealers;
• 1893: signed by Whistler at the request of the New York dealer Max Williams (d. 1928), and offered to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) of Detroit; 1
• 1893: Freer bought this drawing (Vase with slightly bulging body [M.0617]) but the remainder were sold by Deprez and Gutekunst to Williams;
• 1919: bequeathed by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 617).

Exhibitions

• 1878: A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.

Due to the terms of Freer's will, the drawing cannot be lent to another venue.