The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish dates from 1876/1878.

It is an illustration in a catalogue of the collection of Henry Thompson (1820-1894), published in 1878. ¹

Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish, Freer Gallery of Art

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 631).

Images

Subject

Description

Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish, Freer Gallery of Art

A square canister in front of a dish, casting a shadow to right onto the dish. The Thompson catalogue described the subjects as follows:

'No. 113. Two Saucer-shaped Dishes. Sharply drawn flowers and leaves painted in white enamel, which form a raised pattern on a ground of bright powder blue. The under part, as far as the foot, similar in colour and design; the centre panel surrounded by a white line; on the inner edge two similar lines. Mark, double ring and figure 15. Diameter, 13 inches.'

'No. 202. Three Square Canisters, with square necks. Four subjects enclosed in ornamental panels. On one a mandarin seated in an inner court, surrounded by warriors and attendants, receiving offerings presented by three kneeling figures; at an outer gate an attendant holding a horse. On a second panel an interior with an emperor or person of rank, surrounded by five attendants, receiving an offering from a kneeling figure; in the foreground a terrace with five musicians. On another panel an empress or person of rank seated within a room, on either side two attendants carrying tall fans; before her a female figure dancing on a carpet; at an open window another female figure holding something in a cover; in the foreground four female musicians. On the fourth panel three mounted, three unmounted warriors advancing with raised standards through the defiles of a rock. Round the neck panels of flowers; on the cover a diaper ornament and a blue kylin. Mark, leaf and fillet in a funk panel. Height, 12 ½ inches. The three vases are ornamented with similar subjects, but slightly different in detail.' ²

Whistler illustrated one of the two dishes, and one of the three canisters. The canister depicted may be the one described as having panels showing, at left, various women including an empress, dancer and musicians, and at right, warriors, some on horseback.

Technique

Composition

Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish, Freer Gallery of Art

Square canister, K'ang-hsi period, Chinese : Fitzwilliam Museum

A similar canister, possibly that painted by Whistler, is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Saucer-shaped Dish, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

It is an illustration for Plate XVII in Thompson 1878 [more]. There are two preliminary studies, Saucer-shaped Dish m0629 and Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish m0630.

History

Provenance

• 1876/1878: given to Murray Marks (1840-1918), London art dealer;
• 1879: possibly one of seven drawings sold at auction, Christie's, London, 7 February 1879 (lots 527-533), and bought by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930) (see Cylindrical Jar m0594);
• 1894/1898: possibly one of three drawings sold by Deprez and Gutekunst, London dealers, to Frederick Keppel (1845-1912), New York dealer.
• 1898: bought from Keppel on 28 October by by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919)

• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 631).

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.

Due to the terms of Freer's will, it cannot be lent to any other venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 631) as 'Square Canister with square neck, and saucer-shaped Dish'.

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, final design (cat. nos. 202 and 113) repr. pl. XVII.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• A Catalogue of Blue and White Porcelain forming the collection of Sir Henry Thompson, Murray Marks gallery, London, 1878.

Books on Whistler

• Merrill, Linda, The Peacock Room. A Cultural Biography, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 175, fig. 4.26.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 172, pl. 83.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1898.415 as 'Still life' [sic].