Porcelain vase rose enamel Qing Dynasty (19th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
"Matthew, just back from a meeting of the Royal Ceramics Society, was arranging his collection. . . . He had bought two large mahogany display cases into which he was now putting some favorite pieces. He had removed two semicircular tables and fitted the cases into the alcoves in the the hall. It did not look too museum-like. The Sung and Ting dishes were all in a crowd on the drawing-room table. He had decided to make a selection of a number of favorites to keep with him and to lend the rest to the Fitzwilliam Museum for the present. The selection was proving very difficult. He stood holding a famille noire teapot tenderly by the spout. Of course Ming and Ting were greatest and Sung doubtless greatest of all, but for a weightless charm which was perfect without being sublime it was impossible to better Ching."
– from An Accidental Man by Iris Murdoch (Chatto & Windus, 1971)
Porcelain bottle iron-red enamel Qing Dynasty (18th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain bowl group of bats, iron-red enamel Qing Dynasty (19th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain water-pot copper-red glaze Qing Dynasty (19th century) Sir David Percival Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain vase iron-brown glaze Northern Song Dynasty (1000-1127) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain bowl inscribed and dated, coffee-colored glaze Qing Dynasty (1672) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain cups yellow glaze Qing Dynasty (1723-1735) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain vase pear-shape, apple-green enamel Qing Dynasty (1662-1722) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain vase pear-shape, turquoise glaze Qing Dynasty (1662-1722) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Porcelain dish turquoise glaze Qing Dynasty (17th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Stoneware dish blue and purple glaze Ming Dynasty (1368-1398) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Stoneware bowl sky-blue glaze, with purple Yuan-Jin Dynasty (1115-1300) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Stoneware cup-holder duck-egg blue glaze Northern Song Dynasty (11th-12th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Stoneware model of an egg white-ware, opaque white glaze Republic (1912-1949) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |