Fonthill Vase in National Museum of Decorative Art, Dublin (cropped)

The Fonthill Vase, also called the Gaignières-Fonthill Vase after

François Roger de Gaignières François Roger de Gaignières (30 December 1642, Entrains-sur-Nohain – 1715, Paris), was a French genealogist, antiquary and collector. Life He was the grandson of a merchant at Lyon and the son of Aimé de Gaignières, secretary to the Coun ...

and William Beckford's

Fonthill Abbey Fonthill Abbey—also known as Beckford's Folly—was a large Gothic Revival country house built between 1796 and 1813 at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire, England, at the direction of William Thomas Beckford and architect James Wyatt. It was b ...

, is a bluish-white ''

Qingbai Qingbai ware (青白 qīngbái „green-white“, formerly "Ch'ing-pai" etc.) is a type of Chinese porcelain produced under the Song Dynasty and Yuan dynasty, defined by the ceramic glaze used. Qingbai ware is white with a blue-greenish tint, an ...

Chinese porcelain Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...

vase dated to 1300–1340 AD.Victoria and Albert Museum
/ref> It is famous as the earliest documented Chinese

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

object to have reached Europe.Stacey Pierson (2007), ''Collectors, Collections, and Museums: the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain, 1560–1960'', Oxford: Peter Lang, , p. 17. The vase is an early piece of

Jingdezhen porcelain Jingdezhen porcelain () is Chinese ceramics, Chinese porcelain produced in or near Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province in southern China. Jingdezhen may have produced pottery as early as the sixth century CE, though it is named after the reign name ...

, and comes from the final years of ''Qingbai'' ware in

Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city, in northeastern Jiangxi province, with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at leas ...

before it was replaced by the new

blue and white porcelain "Blue and white pottery" () covers a wide range of white pottery and porcelain decorated under the glaze with a blue pigment, generally cobalt oxide. The decoration is commonly applied by hand, originally by brush painting, but nowadays by sten ...

, which started in earnest after 1320. It is an unusual "experimental" vase with applied

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

decoration in the medallions, in the usual monochrome blueish-white Qingbai glaze. After probably arriving in Europe when nearly new, the history of the vase can mostly be documented. Eventually it reached the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...

in 1882, Lauren Arnold, ''Princely Gifts and Papal Treasures: the Franciscan mission to China and its influence on the arts of the West'', 1999:133''ff''
/ref> and in 2018 was on display in the "Curator's Choice" permanent display at the

National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History The National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann – Na hEalaíona Maisiúla ⁊ Stair) is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) located at the former Collins Barracks in the Arbour Hill ...

(

Collins Barracks, Dublin Collins Barracks ( ga, Dún Uí Choileáin) is a former military barracks in the Arbour Hill area of Dublin, Ireland. The buildings now house the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History. Previously housing both British Armed ...

History

The vase was first part of a collection of Louis the Great of Hungary, who seems to have received it from a Chinese embassy on its way to visiting Pope

Benedict XII Pope Benedict XII ( la, Benedictus XII, french: Benoît XII; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope. Benedict was a careful p ...

in 1338. The vase was then mounted with a silver handle and base, transforming it into a

ewer In American English, a pitcher is a container with a spout used for storing and pouring liquids. In English-speaking countries outside North America, a jug is any container with a handle and a mouth and spout for liquid – American "pitchers" wil ...

and transferred as a gift to his Angevin kinsman

Charles III of Naples Charles the Short or Charles of Durazzo (1345 – 24 February 1386) was King of Naples and the titular King of Jerusalem from 1382 to 1386 as Charles II, and King of Hungary from 1385 to 1386 as Charles II. In 1381, Charles created the chivalr ...

in 1381.Stacey Pierson (2007), ''Collectors, Collections, and Museums: the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain, 1560–1960'', Oxford: Peter Lang, , p. 18. Various subsequent owners are known, such as the

duc de Berry Duke of Berry (french: Duc de Berry) or Duchess of Berry (french: Duchesse de Berry) was a title in the Peerage of France. The Duchy of Berry, centred on Bourges, was originally created as an appanage for junior members of the French royal family ...

and the

Grand Dauphin Louis, Dauphin of France (1 November 1661 – 14 April 1711), commonly known as Grand Dauphin, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Louis XIV and his spouse, Maria Theresa of Spain. He became known as the Grand Dauphin after the birth of h ...

(son of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

). By the end of the 17th century, the vase was in the possession of

François Lefebvre de Caumartin François Lefebvre de Caumartin or Jean François Paul Lefèvre de Caumartin (16 December 1668 in Châlons-en-Champagne – 30 August 1733 in Blois) was a French bishop. He was elected member of the Académie Française in 1694 and member of th ...

, who let it be represented in a

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

painting by

in 1713.''Circa 1492. Art in the Age of Exploration'' p.131 The vase was later in the possession of William Beckford at

, and was then sold to John Farquhar in 1822. Its silver mounts were removed in the 19th century, and the vase reappeared in 1882 at a sale of Beckford's heirs at

Hamilton Palace Hamilton Palace was a country house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it dated from the 14th century and was subsequently much enlarged in the 17th and 19th centuries. "and its history had somehow been forgotten". It was bought by the National Museum of Ireland for about £28. It was only in 1959 that Arthur Lane, the ceramics curator of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in London, reconnected the vase with its earlier history.Fuchs

Jean, duc de Berry John of Berry or John the Magnificent ( French: ''Jean de Berry'', ; 30 November 1340 – 15 June 1416) was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. He was Regent of France during the minority of his nephew 1380-138 ...

is known to have had a similar Chinese porcelain vase in his collection when he died in 1416, although it is unknown how he acquired it. This indicates that "the Gaignieres-Fonthill vase was not the only specimen of its kind n Europe at the time. These vases testify to a lost era of exchanges between China and Europe during Medieval times, which can also be seen in pictorial arts with the adoption of some Chinese stylistic conventions in Western painting, such as in the works of

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

and his followers.

Notes

Sources

*Fuchs, Ronald W. II
"A History of Chinese Export Porcelain in Ten Objects"
(as "Vase", first object), ''Ceramics in America 2014'',

Chipstone Foundation The Chipstone Foundation is a Wisconsin-based foundation dedicated to promoting American decorative arts scholarship. Originating from the private collection of Stanley and Polly Stone, the foundation uses its objects and resources to support dec ...

(with good photo) {{Porcelain Individual pieces of porcelain Collection of the National Museum of Ireland Chinese ceramic works Diplomatic gifts Individual vases