The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0603
Oviform Vase and Cover

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1876/1878
Collection: Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum
Accession Number: 25-32
Medium: pencil, pen, dark brown ink and wash
Support: cream wove paper
Size: 7 1/2 x 5 1/4" (190 x 133 mm)
Signature: two butterflies
Inscription: none
Date
Oviform Vase and Cover dates from 1876/1878. It is an illustration in a catalogue of the
collection of Henry Thompson (1820-1894). 1

Oviform Vase and Cover, Glasgow Museums
The drawing is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 603).
Images

Oviform Vase and Cover, Glasgow Museums

Oviform Vase and Cover, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
Subject
Description

Oviform Vase and Cover, Glasgow Museums
The Thompson catalogue described this as:
'Oviform Vase and Cover, with subjects on two upright panels; on one side a gracefully drawn flower painted in blue on a white ground; on the other side a land-scape with two figures walking on a projecting ledge of rock; in the distance overhanging rocks. Round the neck a running leaf pattern; the cover similarly ornamented. Height, 10 1/4 inches.' 2
The side illustrated shows the flower.
Technique
Composition

Oviform Vase and Cover, Glasgow Museums

Oviform Vase and Cover, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
This is an illustration for Plate IV, Thompson 1878 [more]. There is one preliminary study, Oviform Vase and Cover m0602.
History
Provenance
-
1876/1878: given to Murray Marks (1840-1918), London art dealer;
-
1879: possibly sold at auction, Christie's, London, 7 February 1879 (lots 527-533), and bought by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930) (see Cylindrical Jar m0594).
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1893: probably acquired by Deprez and Gutekunst, London dealers;
-
1893: signed by Whistler at the request of the New York dealer Max Williams (d. 1928), and offered to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) of Detroit; 3
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1893: Freer bought one, Vase with slightly bulging body m0617, and the remainder were sold by Deprez and Gutekunst to Williams;
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1904: in September Max Williams sold eleven drawings to Col. Robert James Bennet (1843-1916), Glasgow; 4
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1905: on 24 February John Craibe Angus (1861-1910), Glasgow art dealer, submitted eleven drawings to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926);
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1905: returned by Pennell to Craibe Angus, and sold at some time to a Scottish collector.
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1925: given by Robert Douglas MacGregor (1850-1934) of Wiston Lodge, Lamington, Lanarkshire, to Glasgow City Art Gallery (now Glasgow Museums).
Exhibitions
-
1878: A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 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.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 603).
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. no. 15) repr. pl. IV.
Notes:
1: Thompson 1878 [more].
2: Thompson 1878 [more], p. 4 (cat. no. 15) repr. pl. 4.
3: J. H. Jordan to Freer, 1 May 1893, Freer Gallery of Art.
4: Fitzroy Carrington to E. R. Pennell, 5 September 1906, Library of Congress. The drawings were Oviform Vase m0596, Oviform Vase and Cover m0603, Large Bowl and Cover m0605, Oviform Vase m0609, Ewer and Cover m0610, Tall Vase, with Bulging Body m0611, Beaker m0615, Vase with slightly bulging body and expanding neck m0619, Large Bowl and Cover m0634, Bottle of compressed globular form m0636, and Teapot, in the form of a pomegranate m0642.