The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck and Eight-sided Bowl dates from 1876/1878.

It is a preliminary study for an illustration in a catalogue of the collection of Henry Thompson (1820-1894), published in 1878. ¹

Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck and Eight-sided Bowl, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute,

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 632).

Images

Subject

Description

Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck and Eight-sided Bowl, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute,

A sketch of the main outlines of an arrangement of porcelain. A plate stands upright behind, at left, a bowl with a cover, and at right, a bowl; in front of all these, there is a bottle. The Thompson catalogue described the subjects as follows:

'No. 203. Three Globular-shaped Bottles, with long necks. A design of boldly drawn flowers rising from the base and continued to the top of the neck. Height, 5 ½ inches.'

'No. 239. Plate. In the centre part of a pavilion on a terrace; female figure offering a plant to two other ladies, behind a fruit tree in blossom; round the edge detached hawthorn blossom and boldly drawn waves on a ground of dark blue covered with circular web-like lines; on the outer edge a rocky landscape. Mark, double ring and Ta Ming Ching-hwa nien chi. A.D. 1465-1488. Diameter, 10 ½ inches.'

'No. 246. Shaped Bowl with Cover, surmounted by a cup-shaped knob. On the body four nude figures of boys drawn in outline on a ground of wavy blue, richly ornamented with conventional flowers; above a band of diaper ornament. The cover similarly ornamented, but without the boys. Height, 5 inches.'

'No. 306. Eight-sided Bowl with white perforated panels on a blue ground; round the foot a band of arabesque; round the outer edge a broad band of ornament on a blue ground. Diameter, 5 ½ inches; height, 2 ¾ inches.' ²

Technique

Composition

Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck and Eight-sided Bowl, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute,

Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck, and Eight-sided Bowl, Whereabouts unknown

This is a preliminary design for Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck, and Eight-sided Bowl m0633.

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. 632) as 'Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck and Eight-sided Bowl'.

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. nos 239, 246, 203, 306) repr. pl. XVIII.

Catalogues 1855-1905

SALE:

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