Provenance

• 1876/1878: given to Murray Marks (1840-1918), London art dealer;
• Date unknown: acquired by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930), London;
• 1930: bequeathed to his daughter Sybil Christina Waller (1882-1973);
• 1966: eight drawings were sold at Christie's, London, 14 November 1966 (lots 93-99) and bought by Knoedler's, New York art dealers, for Shirley Latter Schlesinger Kaufmann (Mrs Robert B. Kaufmann) (1916-2003); 1
• 1996: auction Sotheby's, New York, 22 May 1996 (lot 26).

Exhibitions

• 1878: A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.
• 1905: possibly Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. nos. 156-161) as 'Illustrations to Sir Henry Thompson's catalogue of his Collection of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain, 1878.'

The porcelain, the final drawings, and the newly published catalogue, were exhibited in Murray Marks's shop in London, the private view being held on 30 April 1878.

It is almost certain that the drawings lent by Pickford Waller to the 1905 exhibition were among some of the final drawings for the Thompson catalogue. These included Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck, and a deep dish [M.0628], Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck, and Eight-sided Bowl [M.0633], Large Cylindrical Vase with hollow neck [M.0638], Treble-Gourd Vase with long neck, and Bowl with scalloped edge [M.0640], Globular Bottle with long thin neck, Cylindrical-shaped Pot with flat cover surmounted by a knob, and Shallow Bowl [M.0644], Oviform Pot and cover [M.0647], and Beaker with expanding neck [M.0649].

However, another group, owned in 1905 by Waller but acquired shortly after the exhibition by C. L. Freer, could have been the ones selected for exhibition. These were Cylindrical Jar [M.0594], Bottle [M.0599], Oviform Ginger-Jar with Bell-Shaped Cover [M.0601], Cylindrical Vase with thick neck [M.0622], Square Canister with long neck [M.0624], Square Canister with expanding neck [M.0626], and Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish [M.0631].