Blue and White ‘Klapmuts’ Bowl

Kangxi Period 1662-1722, Qing Dynasty.
Porcelain, underglaze cobalt blue.
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, South Central China.
H: 9.5cm D: 20.4cm

A fine Kangxi period ‘Kalpmuts’ porcelain bowl c.1690-1710, decorated to the exterior with five court ladies, three are sitting indoors while two are standing in a garden. The everted rim with a cracked ice with prunus flowers border. The interior is decorated in the middle with a depiction of Li Bai, the drunken poet within a double cricle. Here he is depicted with his eyes closed wearing a scholars cap and robes. He reclines on one elbow resting on a large wine jar. The rim is decorated with four cartouches depicting floral sprays interspersed with four ruyi clouds, all against a geometric pattern background. The base with an apocryphal Chenghua mark.

The ‘Klapmuts’ bowl refers to Chinese porcelain bowls made for the Dutch market and imported by the V.O.C into the Netherlands from the Ming Dynasty (1348-1644) as Kraak porcelain. The shape resembles the ‘Klapmuts’, hats worn by the Dutch in the 17th century.

• A similar example was offered for sale in the Christie’s Amsterdam sale rooms on the 4th April 2012, lot 198.

Provenance:
– Private Japanese Collection.