A large famille verte jar, Qing dynasty, Kangxi (1662-1722).
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Large ovoid shape, decorated in bright enamels with touches of gilding. On its sides are three rectangular cartouches each containing a different animal, a lion tossing a beribboned ball, an elephant and a galloping qilin. On the shoulder is a cloud-collar design with lotus blossoms interspersed with a cash design. Together these three animals can be seen as auspicious creatures, with the qilin and elephant conveying wishes for peace. Height 45,5 cm.
Restored.
Provenance
Purchased from Guest & Gray, London.
The Avalon Collection.
This collection, which in the main focuses on the Interregnum and Kangxi periods has been both carefully and sensitively formed over the last twenty-five years. The collector, a member of the English Oriental Ceramic Society, has assembled the collection with an eye for provenance whilst purchasing from old European collections, well-established antique dealers and at auction.
Academically, the pieces have been well researched both in terms of their symbolism and narrative themes. In many instances the imagery on the pieces has been referenced to episodes in the romantic and historic novels of Chinese mythology, which were used extensively in the decoration of seventeenth century Chinese porcelain.
Literature
For a near identical example see The Dresden Porcelain Collection, Zwinger Palace, Inventory No: PO 6323 also “Chinese Pottery and Porcelain”, by R.L. Hobson, Plate 105.