candlestick(pricket) BM-1930-1017.3

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1573-1620
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, biscuit-fired, painted, underglazed,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Height: 74.20 centimetres (All sections together) Height: 27.30 centimetres (Bottom section only) Height: 15.30 centimetres (Section second from bottom only) Height: 38.80 centimetres (Section second from top only) Height: 7.50 centimetres (Top section only) Weight: 23.85 kilograms (All sections together) Weight: 12 kilograms (Bottom section only) Weight: 7 kilograms (Section second from bottom only) Weight: 3.60 kilograms (Section second from top only) Weight: 1.25 kilograms (Top section only) Width: 33.70 centimetres (Bottom section only) Width: 35.80 centimetres (Section second from bottom only) Width: 14.80 centimetres (Section second from top only) Width: 16.20 centimetres (Top section only) Depth: 33.80 centimetres (Bottom section only) Depth: 35.90 centimetres (Section second from bottom only) Depth: 14.90 centimetres (Section second from top only) Depth: 16.20 centimetres (Top section only)

Description:
Porcelain pricket candlestick decorated in enamels on the biscuit. Composed of four stacking sections, it has a four-sided flared base and a broad tray around the centre. The long tapering neck is topped with a narrow square dish. It bears an underglaze blue Wanli reign mark at the neck and it is decorated with designs of dragons in aubergine and green enamel on a yellow ground. The decoration is applied directly to the biscuit rather than on a layer of transparent glaze.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:Originally this candlestick, plus another one (BM 1930.1017.2) and a ‘zun’-shaped vase (BM 1930.1017.1) belonged to a five-piece altar set. They would have been completed with a large three-legged censer, now in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and with another ‘gu’-shaped altar vase such as the one exhibited in the Tokyo National Museum in 1994. Such a large-scale five-piece set with imperial reign Wanli marks would have been made for a temple, probably within the capital, Beijing, and must have come on to the European art market during the tumultuous years after the Qing period and before the establishment of the Communist government in 1949.