The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Oviform Vase with cover and Tobacco Jar and cover surmounted with a knob dates from 1876/1878.

Oviform Vase with cover and Tobacco Jar and cover surmounted with a knob, Thompson 1878, repr. pl.XXV

It was an illustration for a catalogue of the collection of Henry Thompson (1820-1894), published in 1878: the illustration is reproduced above. ¹

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 645).

Images

Subject

Description

Oviform Vase with cover and Tobacco Jar and cover surmounted with a knob, Thompson 1878, repr. pl.XXV

The Thompson catalogue described the subjects as follows:

'No. 255. Pair of Globular Bottles, with long thin necks. On the body four shield-shaped medallions with an arabesque design on a transparent wavy blue ground, united by a band similarly ornamented; above and below alternate large and small involuted leaves similarly ornamented; on the neck six similar leaves on a quatrefoil ground in outline between two bands of ornament. Mark, leaf, Height, 7 ½ inches.

No. 316. Tobacco Jar and Cover, surmounted by a knob. Round the foot a band of ornament; round the neck a white line from which spring five stiff blue leaves meeting at a point, the intervening spaces covered with a reticulated design; on the cover a star-shaped ornament on a reticulate ground; round the edge a band of ornament. Height, 7 ¾ inches.

No. 317. Oviform Vase with cover; on foot ornamented with regular pattern of conventional flowers and scroll in six slightly bulging divisions; round the foot and neck a band of ornament. Height, 8 ¼ inches.' ²

Technique

Composition

Oviform Vase with cover and Tobacco Jar and cover surmounted with a knob, Thompson 1878, repr. pl. XXV

The reproduction above shows a plate from Thompson 1878 [more], (cat. nos. 255, 317 and 316) pl. XXV. The drawing itself has not been located.

History

Provenance

• 1876/1878: given to Murray Marks (1840-1918), London art dealer;
• Date unknown: bought by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930) for 1 guinea;
• 1930: bequeathed to his daughter Sybil Christina Waller (1882-1973);
• 1966: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 14 November 1966 (lot 96) and bought by a private collector.

Exhibitions

• 1878: A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.
• 1905: possibly Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. nos. 156-161) as 'Illustrations to Sir Henry Thompson's catalogue of his Collection of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain, 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.

It is almost certain that the drawings lent by Pickford Waller to the 1905 exhibition were among some of the final drawings for the Thompson catalogue. These included Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck, and a deep dish m0628, Plate, Bowl with a cover surmounted by a cup-shaped knob, Globular-shaped Bottle with long neck, and Eight-sided Bowl m0633, Large Cylindrical Vase with hollow neck m0638, Treble-Gourd Vase with long neck, and Bowl with scalloped edge m0640, Globular Bottle with long thin neck, Cylindrical-shaped Pot with flat cover surmounted by a knob, and Shallow Bowl m0644, this drawing (Oviform Vase with cover and Tobacco Jar and cover surmounted with a knob m0645), Oviform Pot and cover m0647, and Beaker with expanding neck m0649.

However, another group, owned in 1905 by Waller but acquired shortly after the exhibition by C. L. Freer, could have been the ones selected for exhibition. These were Cylindrical Jar m0594, Bottle m0599, Oviform Ginger-Jar with Bell-Shaped Cover m0601, Cylindrical Vase with thick neck m0622, Square Canister with long neck m0624, Square Canister with expanding neck m0626, and Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish m0631.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 645) as 'Oviform Vase with cover and Tobacco Jar and cover surmounted with a knob'.

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. nos. 255, 317 and 316) repr. pl. XXV.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.
• Possibly Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. nos. 156-161) as 'Illustrations to Sir Henry Thompson's catalogue of his Collection of Blue and White Nankin Porcelain, 1878.'