•D2556. Blue and White Jug in the Form of a Seated Monkey

Delft, circa 1775

Marked N in blue

With fur, facial features and limbs finely delineated in blue, and modeled in a tucked position with his elbows resting on his raised knees, clutching in both forepaws a jug inscribed A, possibly for azijn (vinegar) and raising it to his mouth to form the spout, his tail looped to form a handle.

DIMENSIONS
Height: 14.3 cm. (5.6 in.)

PROVENANCE
The Kitty Valkier-Schreurs Collection, Belgium;
Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam;
The Van der Vorm Collection, Belgium;
Salomon Stodel Antiquités, Amsterdam, 1986

LITERATURE
Described and illustrated in Abraham & Aronson 2010, pp. 76-77; Aronson 2019, pp. 152-153, no. 77

NOTE
The exotic and often comical monkey jugs, frequently intended as milk jugs with cheerful inscriptions on their bellies, enjoyed great popularity in Dutch Delftware. Originally modeled after Chinese famille verte enameled biscuit porcelain wine ewers from the Kangxi period (1662-1722), many variations in coloring, decoration and inscriptions exist in Dutch Delftware. In the Ming dynasty novel, The Journey to the West, the character Sun Wukong (Monkey) gains immortality by eating peaches that had ripened for three thousand years from the Peach Banquet intended for the Eight Daoist Immortals. The Delft potters, unaware of the allegorical meaning of the fruit, often replaced the peaches with a cup from which the monkey sips. They also often placed the animals on a rock work base and moved the opening from the back of the neck to the top of the head, adding either a tricorn hat with an elaborate stopper or just a simple flat cap. The present example is however more rare than the more Western modeled monkey milk jugs, since it is closer to the Chinese porcelain ewers. It might have functioned as a vinegar jug, and may have formed a pair with a similar jug for oil, thus serving as an amusing condiment set.

Available