Object Details
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
- Description
- Standing figure of a woman in a kimono, holding a fan.
- Signatures
- Signature: Whistler 1864, at upper left corner
- Label
- This painting, which hangs over the mantel in the Peacock Room, was part of a series of costume pictures undertaken by Whistler in the mid-1860s in which western models appear in Asian dress, surrounded by Chinese and Japanese objects from Whistler's own collections. He modeled the princess on Christina Spartali, a young woman of Greek descent who is dressed in a kimono and surrounded by luxurious objects that suggest an imaginary "land of porcelain." Not intended as a portrait, the painting instead demonstrated a new ideal of beauty, one derived from Japanese ukiyo-e prints and the elongated figures painted on Chinese porcelain. Whistler never visited Asia, and his appropriation of eastern objects was intended to evoke the temporal and spatial distance of a far off realm.
- Several years before the Peacock Room was ever conceived, Frederick Leyland bought this painting from Whistler. After purchasing a new house in 1875, Leyland hung it over the mantelpiece in the dining room. He intended to transform the space into a porcelainzimmer, an opulent room lined with shelves to hold prized pieces from his extensive collection of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. Whistler suggested some changes to the color scheme of the room which would, he told Leyland, better harmonize with the palette of the Princesse. The final result, of course, was Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room. After Leyland's death in 1892, the Princesse was purchased by the Glasgow collector William Burrell, who subsequently sold it to Charles Lang Freer in 1903, the year of Whistler's death.
- Provenance
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti's (1828-1882) studio, London [1]
- Unidentified collector, purchased from Dante Gabriel Rossetti's studio [2]
- From at least 1872 to 1892
- Frederick Richards Leyland (1831-1892), London, purchased from the estate of the unidentified collector, from at least 1872 [3]
- From 1892
- Alexander Reid (1854-1928), Glasgow, purchased at auction, Christie's, London, May 28, 1892, no. 39 [4]
- From ca. 1894-1895 to 1903
- Sir William Burrell (1861-1958), Glasgow, purchased from Alexander Reid ca. 1894-1895 [5]
- From 1903 to 1919
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Sir William Burrell in 1903 [6]
- From 1920
- Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [7]
- Notes:
- [1] See Curatorial Remark 5, Susan Hobbs, 1977, and Curatorial Remark 11, Lee Glazer, May 25, 2010, in the object record.
- [2] See note 1.
- [3] See note 1.
- [4] See note 1.
- [5] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, page 10, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
- [6] Purchased by C.L. Freer on August 20, 1903, as the "The Princess of Porcelain," see notes 1 and 5.
- [7] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- The Peacock Room Comes to America [2022] (September 3, 2022 - ongoing)
- The Peacock Room Revealed (January 29 to April 15, 2019)
- The Peacock Room in Blue and White [2019-2022] (May 18, 2019 to June 1, 2022)
- The Peacock Room Comes to America [2017-2019] (October 14, 2017 to January 2, 2019)
- The Lost Symphony: Whistler & the Perfection of Art (January 16 to May 30, 2016)
- Chinamania (2016) (July 9, 2016 to June 4, 2017)
- The Peacock Room Comes to America [2011-2016] (April 9, 2011 to January 4, 2016)
- The Peacock Room (May 2, 1923 to February 21, 2011)
- Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)
- Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler (February 23 to March 22, 1904)
- The Seventy-Seventh Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (1903)
- Glasgow International Exhibition (May 2 to November 4, 1901)
- Second Exhibition of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (May to July, 1899)
- Third International Exhibition of the City of Venice (1899)
- Untitled exhibition, Institute of Fine Arts, Glasgow (1896)
- World's Columbian Exposition (May 1 to October 30, 1893)
- Second Exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, London (1892)
- Second Annual Exhibition of Modern Pictures, Royal Pavillion Gallery, Brighton (1875)
- International Exhibition, South Kensington, London (1872)
- London International Exhibition, 1872 (May 1 to October 19, 1872)
- Twelfth Annual Exhibition of Pictures by Artists of the French and Flemish Schools (April 1865 to December 1866)
- The Salon, 1865 (1865)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Studio (1828-1882)
- Frederick Richards Leyland (1831-1892)
- Alexander Reid (1854-1928)
- Sir William Burrell (1861-1958) (C.L. Freer source)
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- 1863-1865
- Accession Number
- F1903.91a-b
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- H x W (painting): 201.5 x 116.1 cm (79 5/16 x 45 11/16 in)
- Origin
- United States
- On View
- Freer Gallery 12: The Peacock Room Comes to America
- See more items in
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Topic
- woman
- fan
- princess
- United States
- American Art
- Charles Lang Freer collection
- Record ID
- fsg_F1903.91a-b
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3d2b28964-c07d-4f4e-aaf9-9cc9545044f2
