A blue and white vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi (1662-1722).
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A pear-shaped bottle in which the main body of the vase is divided vertically into six panels – the two narrower ones frame compositions of the “Hundred Antiques” and the two broader show a scene of a lady on a terrace with flowers again with additional representations of “The Hundred Antiques” above and below. On the shoulder is a band of triangular forms each of which frames three petals. A banana-leaf pattern hangs down from the flaring lip. Height 26.5 cm
Fritts.
Provenance
Purchased from Christie’s South Kensington, “Chinese Works of Art and Textiles”, November 2009, Lot 118.
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.
Exhibitions
See almost identical pair sold at Sothebys New York, March 2007, lot 797.
More information
The “Hundred Antiquities” is interesting in that it demonstrates what was considered suitable for a scholar’s collection at the time – painting scrolls, brushes, brush-rests, ink stones, brush pots, a stack of books and a chessboard.