Lidded Bowl thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
China, Room 44, The T.T. Tsui Gallery

Lidded Bowl

1821-1850 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The predominant colour of this pair of lidded bowls is pink. This inspired the French art historian Albert Jacquemart (1808-1875) to coin the term 'famille rose' (pink family) to describe Chinese porcelain of such a colour scheme. The 'famille rose' palette is best suited to paint flowers, birds and insects, as exemplified on these bowls.

The lidded bowl was a clever idea to dispense with the teapot, since tea could be brewed in the bowl and then drunk straight from it. Lidded bowls - though not of fine porcelain as here - were widely used in tea-houses in China. Waiters would continually refill the bowls with boiling water, and customers could linger for an entire morning.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Bowl
  • Lid
Materials and techniques
Porcelain painted in enamel colours
Brief description
Cer, China, Qing, f.rose

Cer, China, Qing, f.rose
Physical description
Footed bowl with straight everted sides fitted with a shallow, narrowly footed lid; decoration of insects, leaves and seed pods.
Dimensions
  • Height: 5.7cm
  • Diameter: 10.7cm
Style
Object history
Purchased from Lady Alcock, accessioned in 1872. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Subjects depicted
Summary
The predominant colour of this pair of lidded bowls is pink. This inspired the French art historian Albert Jacquemart (1808-1875) to coin the term 'famille rose' (pink family) to describe Chinese porcelain of such a colour scheme. The 'famille rose' palette is best suited to paint flowers, birds and insects, as exemplified on these bowls.

The lidded bowl was a clever idea to dispense with the teapot, since tea could be brewed in the bowl and then drunk straight from it. Lidded bowls - though not of fine porcelain as here - were widely used in tea-houses in China. Waiters would continually refill the bowls with boiling water, and customers could linger for an entire morning.
Collection
Accession number
441&A-1872

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Record createdSeptember 15, 2005
Record URL
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