Rare Chinese Ming-style Blue and White Ewer, mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795)

Hand painted porcelain.

Literature: Sarah Pike Conger, Letters from China: With Particular Reference to the Empress Dowager and the Women of China. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. 1910. The ming-style ewer is illustrated on pg. 36-37, in the legation drawing room (upper right hand quadrant).

https://archive.org/details/lettersfromchina00cong...

This exact ewer was photographed, circa 1900 in the United States legation drawing room, Peking, China. The ewer has descended in the family of the Hon. Edwin H. Conger (1843-1907) & Mrs. Sarah (Pike) Conger.

Sarah Pike Conger's letters also describes her growing friendship with the Empress Dowager, the flight of the Imperial Court to Xian to avoid capture by Western forces, and Cixi's return to Beijing on January 7/8 of 1902. Mrs. Conger was one of the few westerners who believed in making efforts to get to know the Empress and members of the court to discover common ground with the Chinese, so that with greater familiarity and understanding, the Chinese may once again take their place among the nations of the world. Conger also clearly understood the indignities and challenges the Chinese had faced, as well as foreign fear and discrimination based on ignorance.