Advanced Search 
Sake bottle
Made at: Meissen Manufactory (Germany)
German
1730–35
Object Place: Europe, Meissen, Germany
Medium/Technique
Hard-paste porcelain with colored enamel and gilded decoration
Dimensions
21 x 5.2 cm (8 1/4 x 2 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rita and Frits Markus
Accession Number1979.807
CollectionsEurope
DescriptionThe quadrangular, pear-shaped bottles have elongated necks and are approximately square in cross section (both apparently warped in the kiln). The flat bases are unglazed. The pale turquoise ground extends from the shoulder of each bottle to the square foot. A quatrefoil reserve, centered on each side, is framed by a double gilt band enclosing a simple linear motif. Each reserve contains sprays of flowers painted in the Kakiemon style in iron-red, blue, turquoise, green, yellow, puce, and gold. On each bottle are two different arrangements of these flowers, each one repeated on the reverse. Two reserves on one bottle include a shoot of bamboo painted in turquoise; a bird painted in the same color appears in two reserves on the other bottle. The white neck is decorated with a gilt band below the mouth and, at the shoulder, with a gilt band with scrollwork above; the pattern of this scrollwork is identical on the two bottles. Pair with 1976.806.
Marks
(1) on base, in cobalt blue (very faint): crossed swords; wheel-cut: Johanneum mark N = 332 - over W; impressed: three circles arranged in triangle
ProvenanceCollection of Augustus the Strong. Baroness Renée de Becker, Brussels, New York, Rome. June, 1958, purchased in New York by Rita and Frits Markus; 1979, gift of Rita and Frits Markus to the MFA.