The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Large Bowl and Cover dates from 1876/1878. It is a preliminary study for an illustration in a catalogue of the collection of Henry Thompson (1820-1894). ¹

Large Bowl and Cover, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 604).

Images

Subject

Description

Large Bowl and Cover, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

A quick sketch of a bowl and cover, lit from the left, and casting a shadow behind and to right.

The Thompson catalogue described the full subject as:

'No. 29. A Large Shaped Bowl and Cover, with silver mounts. On the body two panels, one representing a male figure presenting petition to a person of rank who holds a flower, behind him a chair and a table with embroidered cover, in front of which stands an attendant with a large raised fan or banner, and another holding a scroll; on either side warriors. On the other panel a man seated on a stool: behind him an attendant conversing with an official who is seated at a table on which are writing materials; in front a man presenting offering. The panels divided by symbolical ornaments. Round the neck a band of fret ornament surmounted by dots; on the cover boys playing amongst the rocks; round the edge a fret ornament, dots below. Painted in brilliant blue. Mark, double ring. Height, 10 ½ inches.' ²

Whistler illustrated the second of these scenes, but only the masses, not the details, are indicated in this sketch.

Technique

Composition

Large Bowl and Cover, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Large Bowl and Cover, Glasgow Museums

This is an preliminary study for Large Bowl and Cover m0605.

History

Provenance

• 1876/1878: given to Murray Marks (1840-1918), London art dealer;
• 1879: 29 preliminary drawings, 'sketches of blue and white vases, in the collection of Sir H. Thompson' were sold at auction, Christie's, London, 7 February 1879 (lot 534) and bought by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930) for 1 guinea;
• 1930: bequeathed to his daughter Sybil Christina Waller (1882-1973);
• 1965: 29 drawings were sold at Christie's, London, 12 November 1965 (lot 32A), bought by Julius H. Weitzner (1896-1986), London art dealer; ³
• 1969: sold by Knoedler's, New York dealers, to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute on 19 May 1969.

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 604) as 'Large Bowl and Cover'.

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, final design (cat. no. 29) repr. pl. IV.

Catalogues 1855-1905

SALE:

• Christie's, London, 7 February 1879 (lot 534) among 29 preliminary drawings, 'sketches of blue and white vases, in the collection of Sir H. Thompson'.