Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc.
E8
Fine antique Chinese porcelain and artworks.
16 East 52nd Street 10th Floor
New York ,
NY
10022
United States
info@rmchaitgal.net
https://www.rmchait.com/
Highlight
FINE AND RARE CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN HONG BOWL
Decorated with the Foreign Trade Warehouses in Canton, each flying their nation's flag.
FINE AND RARE CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN HONG BOWL
Qianlong period, ca: 1780-85
Vividly painted along the exterior painted with a continuous scene of the hongs (foreign trade warehouses or “factories”) that were situated outside the city walls of Canton on the Pearl River. The varying national flags of these factories are shown flying including those of France, Imperial Austria, Sweden, Britain, Holland, and Denmark. The walkways outside these factories are filled with numerous European and Chinese figures engaged in various commercial activities. The interior has a floral basket in the center, and an elaborate border of festoons and bands, and additional floral baskets. All finely painted in particularly deep and vibrant enamels. The subject of the Hongs can be found on porcelain (mostly bowls), export paintings, fans, and on Chinese export silver. The subject is one of the most iconic and important in the China Trade, representing this remarkable moment in time and commerce between East and West. The scenes give us a glimpse into that fascinating world.
Diameter 14 1/8 inches (36 cm.)
Provenance:
--Cottier & Co., New York, 9 December 1909
--Collection of Mrs. Charles B. Manning (1882-1965)
--Bernard Karr, Hyde Park Antiques: 1997- 2023
--Important Private American Collection: 2023- present
Exhibited:
--Harvard Art Museums, Objects of Addiction: Opium, Empire, and the Chinese Art Trade, September 15, 2023- January 14, 2024
--Phoenix Art Museum, Exchanges East and West, September 6, 2024- August 24, 2025
Note: There are numerous variations of Hong Bowls. The earliest example was made in 1765 and is illustrated in Bredo L. Grandjean, Dansk Ostindisk Porcelæn, Copenhagen, 1965, fig. 113-114, cat. no. 107. It is now in the collection of M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark. Very similar examples of varying quality are in major museums and collections, including the British Museum (Franks Collection); the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem; and two from the Anthony Hardy Collection. The example in the Peabody Essex Museum is, recorded and described by William R. Sargent, 2012, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, p. 435, cat. no. 239. It is noted that the dating of the bowls can be correlated to the specific flags being flown.
SELECTED ARTWORKS
Chinese Sancai Glazed Biscuit Porcelain Figure of Guandi
Fine Chinese Blue and White Porcelain Quadrangular Red Cliffs Vase
Fine Inlaid Bronze Hu Vase
Chinese Unglazed Pottery Figure of a Male Official
Chinese White Ware Qingbai Ewer with String Design
Chinese Carved White Jade Washer
Chinese Wood and Stucco Head of Guanyin
Chinese Famille Verte and Powder Blue Porcelain Rouleau Vase
Chinese Export Porcelain Washington Memorial Cover for a Platter
Pair of Chinese Export Porcelain Cranes
Pair of Chinese Grisaille and Gilt Decorated Porcelain Plates
Japanese Imari Porcelain Charger
Very Rare Set of Three Chinese Verte Glazed Porcelain Playing Fu Dogs
DESCRIPTION
Established in 1910, Ralph M. Chait Galleries is the oldest specialist gallery in the United States in the field of fine antique Chinese porcelain and works of art. The Gallery is run by Steven and Andrew Chait, (the third generation of the family).
Over the years, the Gallery has sold pieces to many important Collectors as well as major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Freer Gallery; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; the Los Angeles Country Museum; the St. Louis Art Museum; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Norton Museum of Art; the Sackler Gallery; and the Peabody Essex Museum. The Gallery has also worked with many major architects, decorators, and designers.
The Gallery has for decades exhibited in many prestigious antique fairs in the United States, including today the Winter Antiques Show, the Philadelphia Antiques and Art Show, the Delaware Antiques Show, and the Nantucket Summer Antiques Show.
As a third-generation family business we are cognizant of and steeped in its past but always are looking ahead. The Gallery is open Monday - Friday and collectors or those interested in Chinese Art are most welcome to visit.