11. M4692

Chinese porcelain blue and white nightlight modelled as a crouching tiger with head raised, open mouth, biscuit tongue, bulging eyes and upright ears, with a wang character on his forehead, the body striped and painted with hairwork on a pale blue-washed ground, the dappled spine extending to a long relief tail along its back with a cash-form aperture, the base unglazed with large open rectangular section to hold the candle.

11 3/8 inches, 28.9 cm long; 6 7/8 inches, 17.5 cm high.

Tianqi, 1621-1627.

From the Jintsu-Seigando Collection, acquired by Mr. Jintsu’s father in Toyama over 30 years ago.
Sold by Jintsu-Seigando, 7th June 2018.
Included by Marchant in their exhibition of Kosometsuke & Shonzui, 2024, no. 11, pp. 38-41.
Only one other similar example is recorded and was included by the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts in their exhibition of The World of the Dragon and Tiger, Tokyo, 1986, no. 91, p. 72, and is now illustrated by Teresa Canepa in The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics, a collectors vision, Volume 4, no. 11, pp. 40/1.
Two other related models of tigers described as pillows, each with open mouth and two openwork cash apertures on their backs, one with a large rectangular aperture in the back of the model to probably hold a candle or incense, are illustrated by Junkichi Mayuyama in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Volume One, no. 987, p. 330 and by Masahiko Kawahara in Ko-sometsuke, Monochrome Section, nos. 489 & 490, p. 128.
Cat nightlights on stands are well-known and one salvaged by Captain Michael Hatcher from a Chinese junk which sank in the South China Sea circa 1643 is illustrated by Colin Sheaf and Richard Kilburn in The Hatcher Porcelain Cargoes, The Complete Record, pl. 111, p. 71; another is illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, no. 12:91, p. 390.
Cat-form nightlights continued to be produced into the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. An example was included by Marchant in their catalogue of Recent Acquisitions, 2004, no. 39, pp. 54/5, where it notes, “A similar nightlight of slightly smaller size from the bequest of the widow of J. T. Royer to King William I, 1814, in the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities, transferred to the Rijksmuseum in 1883, is illustrated by Christiaan J.A. Jörg in, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, no. 257, p. 226”. It also notes, “Pere d’Entrecolles, writing from Jingdezhen in 1712, said: ‘I have seen a cat painted after life, in the head of which a little lamp was put to illuminate the eyes, and was assured that in the night the rats were terrified by it’”.
A cat-form incense holder and stand was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Ming Porcelain for the Japanese Market, Ko-sometsuke & Ko-akai, 2008, no. 21, pp. 46/7 and front cover.
A cat-form sweetmeat dish, mukozuke, painted with stripes and a similar tail, was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Two Hundred Years of Chinese Porcelain 1522-1722, 1998, no. 31, p. 47.
In the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition of The Animal in Chinese Art, at the Arts Council Gallery in 1968, it notes, “The tiger, not the lion, is king of beasts to the Chinese. This was perhaps inevitable once it was noticed that the character wang, king or prince, is clearly discernible in the markings on the creature’s forehead. The tiger accordingly features prominently in Chinese mythology. At all times it has been emblematic of courage and by extension the badge of high military rank though, curiously, not the highest—that was reserved for the lion. Tiger claws and whiskers were talismans against fear and tiger amulets ward off all forms of ill-luck”. A Cizhou pillow in the form of a tiger, with a wang character on its forehead, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is illustrated by Rose Kerr in Song Dynasty Ceramics, no. 70, p. 72.