The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0596
Oviform Vase
Date
Oviform Vase dates from 1876/1878. It is an illustration for a catalogue of the collection of Henry Thompson (1820-1894). 1
The small butterfly was added in 1893.
Oviform Vase, Glasgow Museums
The drawing is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 595).
Images
Oviform Vase, Glasgow Museums
Oviform Vase, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
Subject
Description
Oviform Vase, Glasgow Museums
The Thompson catalogue described the subject as one of a pair of vases:
'Pair of Oviform Vases. On one a procession of horse and foot soldiers, carrying banners, state umbrellas, and other badges of office; on the other a mandarin, attended by three warriors, addressing an official seated at a table writing with two attendants behind him. On the neck bamboo branches. The covers, which are decorated with a conventional leaf pattern, are surmounted by a small blue kylin. Height, 11 inches.' 2
The illustration shows the second of these, including two guards with spears at left, a warrior in front, and a mandarin at right.
Technique
Composition
Oviform Vase, Glasgow Museums
Oviform Vase, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
This is an illustration for Plate I, Thompson 1878 [more]. A preliminary study, Oviform Vase m0595, is in the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute.
History
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 m0594).
- 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; 3
- 1893: Freer bought one, Vase with slightly bulging body m0617, and the remainder were sold by Deprez and Gutekunst to Williams;
- 1904: in September Max Williams sold eleven drawings to Col. Robert James Bennet (1843-1916), Glasgow; 4
- 1905: on 24 February John Craibe Angus (1861-1910), Glasgow art dealer, submitted eleven drawings to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926);
- 1905: returned by Pennell to Craibe Angus, and sold at some time to a Scottish collector.
- 1925: given by Robert Douglas MacGregor (1850-1934) of Wiston Lodge, Lamington, Lanarkshire, to Glasgow City Art Gallery (now Glasgow Museums).
Exhibitions
- 1878: A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 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.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 596) as 'Oviform Vase'.
Authored by Whistler
- Thompson, Sir Henry, A Catalogue of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain Forming the Collection of Sir Henry Thompson. Illustrated ... from Drawings by James Whistler ... and Sir Henry Thompson, London, 1878 (cat. no. 6) repr. pl. I.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.
Notes:
1: Thompson 1878 [more].
2: Thompson 1878 [more], pp. 2-3 (cat. no. 6) repr. pl. 1.
3: J. H. Jordan to Freer, 1 May 1893, Freer Gallery of Art.
4: Fitzroy Carrington to E. R. Pennell, 5 September 1906, Library of Congress. The drawings were Oviform Vase m0596, Oviform Vase and Cover m0603, Large Bowl and Cover m0605, Oviform Vase m0609, Ewer and Cover m0610, Tall Vase, with Bulging Body m0611, Beaker m0615, Vase with slightly bulging body and expanding neck m0619, Large Bowl and Cover m0634, Bottle of compressed globular form m0636, and Teapot, in the form of a pomegranate m0642.