The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

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

The second butterfly was added in 1893.

Vase with slightly bulging body, Freer Gallery of Art

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 617).

Images

Subject

Description

Vase with slightly bulging body, Freer Gallery of Art

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, Freer Gallery of Art

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

This is an illustration for Plate XII, Thompson 1878 [more]. There is one preliminary study, Vase with slightly bulging body m0616.

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 this drawing (Vase with slightly bulging body m0617) but the remainder were sold by Deprez and Gutekunst to Williams;
• 1919: bequeathed by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 617).

Exhibitions

• 1878: A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.

Due to the terms of Freer's will, the drawing cannot be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 617) 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, p. 15 (cat. no. 72) repr. pl. XII.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 171, pl. 82.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1893.18.