Lot 122
122
A MASSIVE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE BALUSTER VASES AND COVERS
A MASSIVE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE BALUSTER VASES AND COVERS

CIRCA 1740

Details
A MASSIVE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE BALUSTER VASES AND COVERS
Circa 1740
Finely painted in rich tones of famille rose with a pair of phoenix standing beside blue rocks growing with large pink and white peony blossoms, wutong and magnolia, with pairs of various smaller birds, including ducks and cranes, near them and in a lotus pond on the back, the scene set between a pink lappet border below and a flower-strewn ruyi collar above, the shoulder encircled by a band of landscape vignettes flanked by various blossoms and fruits reserved on a pink diaper ground, the domed cover decorated en suite below a gilded Buddhist lion finial, gilt-wood stands
52in. (132cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

Massive vases of this type are sometimes called 'soldier vases' after the story of Frederick Augustus I (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, avid collector of Oriental porcelain and founder of the Meissen factory, trading a regiment of soldiers for a collection of them. A very similar pair, illustrated by A. du Boulay, op. cit., p. 250, was sold Christie's London, 28 July 1975, lot 181, and again 10 June 1996, lot 135