Cer, China, Qing, monochrome, RED

Flask of flattened bulbous shape, covered with a copper red glaze. The two handles on the shoulders are in the form of kui dragons. The neck was probably damaged at some later time and cut down, leaving a white rim. On the crackled white base is the mark Shigan Caotang (Thatched cottage by the brook) written in underglaze blue.
Shigan is one of the songs in Shijing, Xiaoya (Book of Songs: Lesser Odes Chapter), the first two lines reading:
The brook flows
The southern mountains deep.
The song is about building houses and the joy of home. By reference to this song the owner of the flask, whose identity is still to be revealed, was implying that his thatched cottage (not to be taken literally, it could have been a big mansion) was an agreeable dwelling place.

Marie Dumergue Bequest

Bequeathed by Mrs. Marie Adeline Dumergue, accessioned in 1912. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.

A Chinese scholar commissioned this vase. In an inscription on the base he declared that his thatched cottage was an agreeable dwelling place. While Chinese porcelains bearing reign period marks are common, objects with owner's marks, such as this piece, are much rarer.

C.97-1912