Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

 

Square Canister with expanding neck

Description


                    Square Canister with expanding neck, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
Square Canister with expanding neck, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

A sketch of a square canister.

The Thompson catalogue described the subject as follows:

'Square Canister with expanding neck. On one panel a sage seated on a rock, below which is a stag; on another panel two mandarins or persons of rank giving instructions to a warrior; on a third a rocky landscape with two figures carrying baskets; on the remaining one female figure, probably a goddess, appearing to a man who is leading an ox over a bridge; numerous birds flying round the bridge. On the neck lotus flowers and symbols. Height, 11 ½ inches.' 1

The side on the left apparently depicts the'two mandarins' and the one to right, two figures in a landscape, but no details are clear.

Notes:

1: Thompson 1878 [more] , p. 47 (cat. no. 242) repr. pl. 14.

Last updated: 18th March 2021 by Margaret