Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
Important pair of covered Chinese porcelain vases.
Rich “Imari” type decoration with festive scenes in a palace including characters in traditional dress, Fö dogs on a white background decorated with chrysanthemums and peonies.
The decoration is made in cobalt blue and iron red under translucent glaze, with gilding highlights that outline the contours of the clothes, rocks and flower petals.
The necks of the bases have delicate friezes of linghzy heads.
The two original lids have a rare rotating decoration with a circle of dancing children.
Perfect state of preservation.
China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, reign of Emperor Kangxi around 1720.
Dimensions:
Height: 46 cm
Provenance:
- Belgian private collection.
Our opinion:
Our pair of vases represents the quintessence of Chinese ceramics under the reign of Kangxi.
It sports a baluster shape combined with the finesse of a polychrome blue and red "Imari" decoration underglaze enhanced with perfectly mastered gilding.
This decoration called "Imari kinrande" (literally "gold brocade") is inspired by the "Arita" porcelains of Japan, themselves largely inspired by the patterns and compositions of Japanese textile arts, in particular kimonos.
With the accumulation of patterns, the exuberance and the decorative overload where gilding occupies an important place, ceremonial objects of this type, in particular large dishes and vases, are mainly exported from China to Europe for a princely elite.
Their quality far surpasses the original Japanese model, and demonstrates the full extent of the science of the imperious Chinese potters who mastered all the techniques of manufacture and decoration.
In addition to its sublime abundant decoration, our pair has the rare merit of being presented in a perfect state of conservation, without accident, with its two original lids and very fresh and unworn gilding, which is particularly rare.
