A CHINESE GILT-SPLASHED BRONZE VASE

17TH CENTURY

Details

A CHINESE GILT-SPLASHED BRONZE VASE
17TH CENTURY
Of tapering ovoid guan shape with monster mask handles to the sides, the well-patinated bronze applied all over with gilt splashes, the base cast with a four character Xuande sealmark
7 in. (17.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Almost certainly acquired by Mr. and Mrs. William James, West Dean Park, Sussex.
Thence by descent to Edward James, West Dean, Sussex, sold Christie's house sale, 2-6 June 1986, lot 732.

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Amelia Elborne

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Lot Essay

This 'splashware' vase was in the fabled collections of Edward James (1907-1984). Poet, writer, collector and connoisseur, James was one of the most important figures in English Surrealism, patronising many of the luminaries of contemporary art during the early 1930s, including Paul Nash, Salvador Dali and René Magritte. His estate at West Dean, which James inherited in 1912, is now the home of the Edward James Foundation.

During the 1930s James was encouraged by the Mount Street decorator Dolly Mann to introduce Surrealist enrichment to Monkton, his 'magical house in the woods' at West Dean (C. Aslet, 'Monkton House, West Sussex', Country Life, 12 September 1985, pp. 700-704).

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