A Rare Large Chinese Export 'Mask' Jug, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, circa 1740

Earle D. Vandekar, New York

Wolf Family Collection No. 0911 (acquired from the above on April 17, 1987)

Large jugs of similar form are known in Sèvres porcelain and French faience. For an example of the Sèvres type in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see the online collection catalogue: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O99402/pot-a-eau-broc-ordinaire-jug-vincennes-porcelain-factory/

The incorporation of a mask relates more closely to German stoneware ‘Bellarmine’ forms, although mask spouts are found on a number of European ceramic jugs of varying forms. The mask here is of a typical bearded ‘European’ facial type, the most notable example of which is seen in the large freestanding figure of the Jewish man, an example of which was in the Collection of Nelson and Happy Rockefeller, sold in these rooms, January 18, 2019, lot 321.

Large jugs of this form are rare and the decoration on extant examples is either identical to that on the present piece, for which see the pair illustrated in Michel Beurdeley, Porcelain of the Dutch East India Companies, London, 1962, pl. XXI, p. 113; or incorporates fruiting branches beneath a pink diaper border, for which see the pair sold at Christies New York, February 2, 2022, lot 8.