Porcelain Vase with White Background

DATE:: 18th century
MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE:: Porcelain
CLASSIFICATION:: Containers
DIMENSIONS:: 8 3/4 × 7 × 6 in. (22.23 × 17.78 × 15.24 cm)
DEPARTMENT:: Decorative Arts and Design
LOCATION:: Wendy and Emery Reves Collection - Porcelain , Level 3
CREDIT LINE:: Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection
OBJECT NUMBER:: 1985.R.914

General Description

Although its unusual shape is probably copied from Middle Eastern water pipes, or kendi, and they are sometimes described as nursing bottles, colorful porcelains, like this one, may have been bought by Europeans merely as decorative objects. The newly developed famille rose enamel palette is used lavishly on the roll-over lip, shoulders, reserves, and neck. Rose also appears in the unusual striping of the spout and globular sides. Similar striping can be seen on the shell of the wall fountain (see 1985.R.843.A-C), confirming the early date of this bottle and the probability that it was intended for the Portuguese market.

Adapted from

Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1985), 193.
Label text, Reves Galleries, Porcelain Gallery, 2018