Master Art

Dutch Market

Price:  £1,875

A Chinese famille rose spittoon (zhadou) of lobed form with everted lobed rim, brightly painted with flowers.

The shape is also known as a cuspidor (from the Portuguese cuspir = to spit) and is found in Chinese tradition. It is believed that it was introduced to Europe by the Dutch in the seventeenth century. The wide brimmed form first appeared in the Tang dynasty and the addition of handles developed in the early eighteenth century. Sargent (2012) quotes the English physician Ellis Veryard (1657-1714) who wrote of his travels in Holland: “You had almost as good spit in a Dutch Woman’s face as on her Floor, and therefore there are little Pots or Pans to spit in.”

References: Sargent (2012) Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA, p263; Howard 1994, p228, No 269, a blue and white spittoon of similar shape from the wreck of the Geldermalsen, sunk 1752; Lange 2005, p155, a similar example.