Lot Essay
This fine pair of particularly large beaker vases would originally have formed part of a five-piece garniture, the three missing vases being of baluster form and with covers. In the 18th Century, the more usual smaller-sized garnitures would be used, as they often are now, to adorn a chimney-piece, a door entableture or placed on a piece of furniture such as a console table. However, due to their size, a garniture with vases of this size would more likely have been placed under or on a large cabinet, or on a hearth slab. A Kangxi blue and white five-piece garniture of this more unusual size was sold in these Rooms, 2 November 1992, lot 99.