The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Vase with slightly bulging body dates from 1876/1878. It is a preliminary study for an illustration in a catalogue of the collection of Henry Thompson (1820-1894). ¹

Vase with slightly bulging body, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 616).

Images

Subject

Description

Vase with slightly bulging body, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

An unfinished sketch of a vase, with a central vertical line inserted to help in making it symmetrical.

The Thompson catalogue described the subject as one of two similar vases, namely:

'Two Vases, with slightly bulging bodies. On one a lady rising to receive a petition: behind her an attendant, to the right three men standing by a table; large palm trees: round the neck detached flowers: on the covers boys playing. On the companion vase, a mandarin or person of rank carrying scrolls and surrounded by attendants, receiving offerings: in the distance two soldiers bearing halberts: round the foot a small dotted pattern enclosed within lines. Mark, leaf. Height, 11 inches.' ²

This is the first vase described above.

Technique

Composition

Vase with slightly bulging body, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Vase with slightly bulging body, Freer Gallery of Art

This is a preliminary study for Vase with slightly bulging body m0617.

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, London, Christie, 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 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. 616) as 'Vase with slightly bulging body'.

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 (72) repr. pl. XII.

Catalogues 1855-1905

SALE:

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