Blue and White Bottle Vase, WanLi, ca. 1630

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Dealer

Kollenburg Antiquairs BV

Price

Price on request

Status

Available

Period

ca. 1630

Material

porcelain

Description

A blue and white decorated pear-shaped bottle with a flower decoration. The shape of the top is commonly referred to as garlic-button. These type of bottles were imported in Holland from the beginning of the 17th century onwards. In the registers of the VOC pear-shaped and “Persian” bottles are frequently recorded. Although they are mentioned separately the distinction is not clear. As opposed to plates and bowls in kraak-porcelain, hollow shapes like these are not made as delicately and thin as is typical for this type of Chinaware. Nevertheless it is assumed that these bottles are to be categorized as kraak-porselein because of the decoration in compartments. The bottleneck is comparatively short relating to the body. This indicates a somewhat later date. Several bottles with a similar shape and decoration were salvaged from the Hatcher wreck, a junk that sank around 1643. Therefore this bottle can be roughly dated to this period. The museum Princessehof in Leeuwarden own a similar specimen (inv.nr. GMP 1970-79). It is remarkable that the garlic-button is still intact. Often this knob was removed in Indonesia and ground to a powder that was used in a tonic.